^wtraS 


The  Political  Future  of  India 


OTHER  BOOKS  BY  LA  J  PAT  RAI 

YOUNG  INDIA 

An  Interpretation  and  a  History  of  the 

Nationalist  Movement  from  Within 

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ENGLAND'S  DEBT  TO  INDIA 

A  Historical  Narrative  of  Britain 's 

Fiscal  Policy  in  India 

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AN  OPEN  LETTER  TO   LLOYD  GEORGE 
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An  Account  of  its  Origins,  Doctrines 

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OBTAINABLE    FROM    ALL    BOOKSELLERS 


The 
Political  Future  of  India 

by 

Lajpat  Rai 


n- 


NEW  YORK 

B.  W.  HUEBSCH,  Inc. 

MCMXXI 


COPYRIGHT,    1919,   BY   B.  W.   HUEBSCH 
PRINTED   IN   U.S.A. 


0- 


TO  MY  FRIEND 
COLONEL  JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD,  M.  P.,  D.  S.  O. 


43943S 


PREFACE 

My  book,  Young  India,  was  written  during  the 
first  year  of  the  war  and  was  finally  revised  and  sent 
to  the  press  before  the  war  was  two  years  old.  It 
concluded  with  the  following  observation: 

'"The  Indians  are  a  chivalrous  people;    they  will  | 
not  disturb  England  as  long  as  she  is  engaged  with  \ 
Germany.     The  struggle  after  the  war  might,  however, 
be  even  more  bitter  and  sustained." 

The  events  that  have  happened  since  have  amply 
justified  the  above  conclusion.  India  not  only  re- 
frained from  disturbing  England  while  she  was  engaged 
in  war  with  Germany,  but  actively  helped  in  defeating 
Germany  and  winning  the  war.  She  raised  an  army 
of  over  a  million  combatants  and  supplied  a  large 
number  of  war  workers,  and  made  huge  contributions 
in  money  and  materials.  She  denied  herself  the  neces- 
sities of  life  in  order  to  feed  and  equip  the  armies  in 
the  field  though  within  the  last  months  of  the  war, 
when  scarcity  and  epidemic  overtook  her,  she  lost \ 
six  millions  of  her  sons  and  daughters  from  one  disease  \ 
alone  —  influenza.  This  was  more  than  chivalry. 
This  was  self-effacement  in  the  interests  of  an  Empire 
which,  in  the  past,  had  treated  her  children  as  helots. 
How  much  of  this  effort  was  voluntary  and  how 
much  of  it  was  forced  it  is  difficult  to  appraise.  Great 
Britain,  however,  has  unequivocally  accepted  it  as 
voluntary  and  has  attributed  it  to  India's  satisfaction 


VI  PREFACE 

with  her  rule.  That  India  was  not  satisfied  with  her 
rule  she  has  spared  no  pains  to  impress  upon  the 
British  people  as  well  as  the  rest  of  the  world.  Read- 
ing between  the  lines  of  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  for  India  and  the  Viceroy  has  established  the 
fact  of  that  dissatisfaction  beyond  the  possibility  of 
doubt,  but  if  any  doubt  still  remained  it  has  been 
dispelled  by  the  writings  and  utterances  of  her  repre- 
sentative spokesman  in  India,  in  Great  Britain  and 
abroad.  The  prince  and  the  peasant,  the  landlord  and 
the  ryot,  the  professor  and  the  student,  the  politician 
and  the  layman  —  all  have  spoken.  They  differ 
in  their  estimates  of  the  "blessings"  of  British  rule, 
they  differ  in  the  manner  of  their  profession  of  loyalty 
to  the  British  Empire,  they  sometimes  differ  in  shap- 
ing their  schemes  for  the  future  Government  of  India 
but  they  are  all  agreed: 

(i)  That  the  present  constitution  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  is  viciously  autocratic,  bureaucratic, 
antiquated  and  unsatisfying. 

(2)  That  India  has,  in  the  past,  been  governed 
more  in  the  interests  of,  and  by  the  British  merchant 
and  the  British  aristocrat  than  in  the  interests  of  her 
own  peoples. 

(3)  That  the  neglect  of  India's  education  and  in- 
dustries has  been  culpably  tragic  and 

(4)  That  the  only  real  and  effectual  remedy  is  to 
introduce  an  element  of  responsibility  in  the  Govern- 
ment of  India. 

In  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
Viceroy,  so  often  quoted  and  referred  to  in  these 
pages,  the  truth  of  (1),  (3),  and  (4)  is  substantially 
admitted  and  point  (2)  indirectly  conceded.     In  the 


PREFACE  VU 

following  pages  an  attempt  is  made  to  prove  this 
by  extracts  from  the  report  itself.  Ever  since  the 
report  was  published  in  July,  1918,  India  has  been  in 
a  state  of  ferment,  —  a  ferment  of  enthusiasm  and 
criticism,  of  hope  and  disappointment.  While  the 
country  has  freely  acknowledged  the  unique  value  of 
the  report,  the  politicians  have  differed  in  their  esti- 
mates of  the  value  of  the  scheme  embodied  therein. 
Yet  there  is  a  complete  unanimity  on  one  point,  that 
nothing  less  than  what  is  planned  in  the  report  will 
be  accepted,  even  as  the  first  step  towards  eventual 
complete  responsible  Government.  This  is  the  mini- 
mum. Even  the  ultra-moderates  have  expressed 
themselves  quite  strongly  on  that  point.  Speaking 
at  the  Conference  of  the  Moderates  held  at  Bombay 
on  November  1,  1918,  the  President,  Mr.  Surendranath 
Banerjea,  is  reported  to  have  said:  "our  creed  is  co- 
operation with  the  Government  wherever  practicable, 
and  opposition  to  its  policy  and  measures  when  the 
supreme  interests  of  the  mother-land  require  it.  .  .  . 
I  have  a  word  to  say  ...  to  the  British  Government. 
I  have  a  warning  note  to  sound.  ...  If  the  enactment 
of  the  Reform  proposals  is  unduly  postponed,  if  they 
are  whittled  down  in  any  way  .  .  .  there  will  be 
grave  public  discontent  and  agitation."  A  little 
further  in  the  same  speech  he  asked  if  "by  the  un- 
wisdom of  our  rulers"  India  was  "to  be  converted 
into  a  greater  Ireland."  In  less  than  six  months 
from  the  date  of  this  pronouncement,  the  rulers  of 
India  gave  ample  proof  of  their  "unwisdom"  by 
actually  converting  India  into  a  "greater  Ireland" 
and  in  establishing  the  absolute  correctness  of  the 
prognostication   made   by   the  present   writer   in   the 


VU1  PREFACE 

concluding  sentence  of  his  book  Young  India.  The 
manifesto  of  the  Moderate  Party  issued  over  the 
signatures  of  the  Moderate  leaders  all  over  the  country 
contained  the  following  warning:  "We  must  equally 
protest  against  every  attempt,  by  whomever  made 
and  in  whatever  manner,  at  any  mutilation  of  the 
Montagu-Chelmsford  proposals.  We  are  constrained 
to  utter  a  grave  warning  against  the  inevitable  dis- 
astrous effects  of  such  a  grievous  mistake  on  the 
future  relations  of  the  British  Government  and  the 
Indian  people  which  will  result  in  discontent  and  agita- 
tion followed  by  repression  on  the  one  side  and  suf- 
fering on  the  other  side.',  Little  did  they  know  when 
they  uttered  the  warning  that  repression  would  come 
even  before  the  Reform  Scheme  was  discussed  in 
Parliament  and  "mutilated"  there.  British  rule  in 
Ireland  has  been  for  the  last  twenty  years  a  wearisome 
record  of  mixed  concessions  and  coercions.  Every 
time  a  concession  was  made  it  was  either  preceded 
or  accompanied  by  strong  doses  of  coercion.  One 
would  have  thought  that  British  statesmen  were  wiser 
,by  their  experience  of  Ireland,  but  it  seems  that  they 
[have  learnt  nothing  and  that  they  have  no  intention 
lof  doing  in  India  anything  different  from  what  they 
have  been  doing  in  Ireland.  The  history  of  British 
\  statesmanship  in  relation  to  Irish  affairs  is  repeating 
itself  almost  item  by  item  in  India. 

Lord  Morley's  reforms  were  both  preceded  and 
followed  by  strong  measures  of  repression  and  sup- 
pression. As  if  to  prove  that  British  statesmanship 
can  never  in  this  respect  set  aside  precedent  even  for 
once,  Mr.  Montagu's  proposals  have  been  followed 
by  a  measure  of  coercion  unique  even  for  India.     Mr. 


PREFACE  IX 

Montagu's  proposals  for  the  reconstruction  of  Govern- 
ment in  India  are  yet  in  the  air.  They  are  being 
criticised  and  examined  minutely  by  numerous  British 
agencies  both  in  India  and  in  England  as  to  how  and 
in  what  respects  they  can  be  made  innocuous.  Cer- 
tain other  reforms  promised  by  the  report,  such  as  the 
scheme  for  Local  Self  Government  and  the  policy 
in  relation  to  the  Arms  Act,  have  already  been  dis- 
posed of  in  the  usual  masterly  way  of  giving  with  one 
hand  and  taking  back  with  the  other.  Similarly  the 
" great"  scheme  of  opening  the  commissioned  ranks 
of  the  Army  to  the  native  Indians  has  practically 
(for  the  present  at  least)  ended  in  fiasco.  But  the 
policy  underlying  the  Rowlatt  laws  has  surpassed  all. 
In  the  chapters  of  this  book  dealing  with  the  Revo- 
lutionary movement  the  reader  will  find  a  genesis 
of  the  Rowlatt  laws  of  coercion. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  January  in  the  Gazette  of  India 
was  published  a  draft  of  two  bills  that  were  proposed 
to  be  brought  before  the  Legislative  Council  of  India 
(which  has  a  standing  majority  of  Government  offi- 
cials). These  bills  were  to  give  effect  to  the  recommend- 
ations of  the  committee  presided  over  by  Mr.  Justice 
Rowlatt  of  the  High  Court  of  England,  for  the  preven- 
tion, detection  and  punishment  of  sedition  in  India. 
Their  introduction  into  the  Legislative  Council  was  at 
once  protested  against  by  all  classes  of  Indians  with  a 
unanimity  never  before  witnessed  in  the  history  of 
India.  All  sections  of  the  great  Indian  population 
from  the  Prince  to  the  peasant,  including  all  races, 
religions,  sects,  castes,  creeds  and  professions  joined 
in  the  protest.  Hindus,  Mohammedans,  Indian  Chris- 
tians, Sikhs,   Buddhists,  Parsees  —  all  stood  up,  to  a 


X  PREFACE 

man,  to  oppose  the  measure.  All  the  political  parties, 
Conservatives,  Liberals,  Moderates  and  Extremists 
expressed  themselves  against  it.  The  measure  was 
opposed  by  all  the  non-official  Indian  members  of  the 
Legislative  Council.  All  methods  of  agitation  were 
resorted  to  in  order  to  make  the  opinion  of  the  country 
known  to  the  Government  and  to  warn  the  latter 
against  the  danger  of  defying  the  united  will  of  the 
people.  The  press,  the  pulpit  and  the  platform  all 
joined  in  denouncing  the  measures,  meetings  of  protest 
were  held  in  all  parts  of  the  country  and  resolutions 
wired  to  the  Government.  A  few  days  before  the 
final  meeting  at  which  these  bills  were  to  be  passed 
into  law  a  number  of  prominent  citizens,  male  and 
female,  pledged  themselves  to  passive  resistance  in 
case  the  measures  were  enacted.  The  passive  resist- 
ance movement  was  inaugurated  and  led  by  Mr. 
M.  K.  Gandhi,  a  man  of  saintly  character,  universally 
respected  and  revered  in  India,  the  same  who  stood 
for  the  Government  during  the  war  and  rendered 
material  help  in  recruiting  soldiers,  raising  loans  and 
procuring  other  help  for  its  prosecution.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  text  of  the  pledge  that  was  signed  by  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  Indians  belonging  to  all  races  and 
religions  and  hailing  from  all  parts  of  the  continent: 

"Being  conscientiously  of  opinion  that  the  bills 
known  as  the  Indian  Criminal  Law  (Amendment) 
Bill  No.  i  of  1919  and  No.  2  of  1919  are  unjust,  sub- 
versive of  the  principle  of  liberty  and  justice  and  de- 
structive of  the  elementary  rights  of  individuals 
on  which  the  safety  of  the  community  as  a  whole 
and  the  State  itself  is  based,  we  solemnly  affirm  that, 
in  the  event  of  these  bills  becoming  law,  we  shall 
refuse  civilly  to  obey  these  laws  land  such  other  laws 


PREFACE  XI 

as  a  committee  to  be  hereafter  appointed  may  think 
6t  and  we  further  affirm  that  in  this  struggle  we  will 
faithfully  follow  truth  and  refrain  from  violence  of 
life,  person  or  property."  -*■*=?** 

The  passive  resistance  movement  was  not  approved 
by  the  country  as  a  whole,  and  influential  voices  were 
raised  against  it  even  in  its  early  stages  but  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Gandhi  had  taken  the  responsibility  of 
initiating  and  leading  it  and  that  many  women  had 
signed  the  pledge  should  have  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
Government  as  to  the  intensity  of  the  feeling  behind 
it.  Besides  this  threat  of  passive  resistance  the 
Indian  members  of  the  Council  showed  their  solid 
opposition  to  the  measure  by  using  all  the  historic 
obstructive  methods  so  well  known  to  the  student  of 
Parliamentary  debates  in  the  House  of  Commons  as 
associated  with  the  Irish  Nationalist  party  under  the 
leadership  of  Parnell.  The  debates  in  the  Legislative 
Council  of  India  do  not  ordinarily  last  for  more  than 
one  day,  consisting,  at  the  most,  of  eight  hours.  The 
debate  on  this  bill  lasted  for  three  days;  one  sitting 
lasted  "from  n  o'clock  in  the  morning  .  .  .  until 
nearly  half  past  one  the  following  day  with  adjourn- 
ments for  luncheon  and  dinner."  The  officials  were 
determined  to  pass  the  bill  at  that  sitting  and  so  they 
refused  to  rise  until  the  amendments  on  the  agenda 
had  been  disposed  of  and  the  bill  passed  into  law.  The 
non-officials  proposed  no  less  than  160  amendments 
but  by  the  application  of  closure  methods  they  were 
all  disposed  of  in  three  days  and  the  bill  passed  (on  the 
1 8th  of  March).  The  Government  made  a  few  minor 
concessions  but  on  the  whole  the  bill  remained  as  it 
had    been    drafted,    a    monument    of    Governmental 


Xll  PREFACE 

shortsightedness  and  stupidity.  The  consideration  of 
the  other  bill  was  postponed.  As  soon  as  the  news 
reached  Bombay  that  the  first  bill  had  become  law 
"the  market  was  closed  as  a  protest"  and  posters 
in  English  and  the  vernacular,  were  displayed  through- 
out the  city  urging  the  non-payment  of  taxes  and 
asking  the  people  to  resist  the  order  of  a  tyrannical 
Government."  (London  Times,  April  2.)  Similar 
manifestations  of  anger  were  made  throughout  the 
country  and  the  movement  for  passive  resistance  was 
definitely  inaugurated.  It  spread  like  wild  fire. 
Thousands  joined  it  and  the  relations  between  the 
people  and  the  Government  became  very  strained. 
However,  no  violence  was  resorted  to,  nor  was  any 
harm  done  to  life  and  property.  Several  members  of 
the  Legislative  Council  resigned  their  offices.  One  of 
them  a  Mohammedan  leader,  wrote  the  following  letter 
to  His  Excellency  the  Viceroy: 

"Your  Excellency,  the  passing  of  the  Rowlatt  Bill 
by  the  Government  of  India  and  the  assent  given  to 
it  by  your  Excellency  as  Governor- General  against 
the  will  of  the  people  has  severely  shaken  the  trust 
reposed  by  them  in  British  justice.  Further,  it  has 
clearly  demonstrated  the  constitution  of  the  Imperial 
Legislative  Council  which  is  a  legislature  but  in  name, 
!  a  machine  propelled  by  a  foreign  executive.  Neither 
the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  non-official  Indian  mem- 
bers, nor  the  entire  public  opinion  and  feeling  outside 
has  met  with  the  least  respect.  The  Government  of 
India  and  your  Excellency,  however,  have  thought 
it  fit  to  place  on  the  statute-book  a  measure  admittedly 
obnoxious  and  decidedly  coercive  at  a  time  of  peace, 
thereby  substituting  executive  for  judicial  discretion. 
Besides,  by  passing  this  Bill,  your  Excellency's  Gov- 
ernment have  actively  negatived  every  argument  they 


PREFACE  Xlll 

advanced  but  a  year  ago  when  they  appealed  to  India 
for  help  at  the  War  Conference,  and  have  ruthlessly 
trampled  upon  the  principles  for  which  Great  Britain 
avowedly  fought  the  war. 

"The  fundamental  principles  of  justice  have  been| 
uprooted  and  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  people) 
have  been  violated,  at  a  time  when  there  is  no  real 
danger  to  the  state,  by  an  overf earful  and  incompetent- 
bureaucracy  which  is  neither  responsible  to  the  people, 
nor  in  touch  with  real  public  opinion  and  their  whole 
plea  is  that  '  powers  when  they  are  assumed  will  not  be 
abused.'  . 

"I,  therefore,  as  a  protest  against  the  passing  of  the 
Bill  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  passed,  tender 
my  resignation  as  a  member  of  the  Imperial  Legis- 
lative Council,  for  I  feel  that,  under  the  prevailing 
conditions,  I  can  be  of  no  use  to  my  people  in  the 
Council,  nor,  consistently  with  one's  self  respect,  is 
cooperation  possible  with  a  Government  that  shows 
such  utter  disregard  for  the  opinion  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people  in  the  Council  Chamber  and  the 
feelings  and  sentiments  of  the  people  outside. 

"In  my  opinion,  a  Government  that  passes  or  sanc- 
tions such  law  in  times  of  peace  forfeits  its  claim  to  be 
called  a  civilized  Government  and  I  still  hope  that 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  Mr.  Montagu,  will 
advise  his  Majesty  to  signify  his  disallowance  to  this 
Black  Act. 

"Yours  truly, 

"M.  A.  Jinnah." 

The  leaders  of  the  passive  resistance  movement  de- 
clared 30th  March  as  "the  National  protest  day." 
The  protest  was  to  be  made  by  all  the  traditional 
methods  known  to  India  for  ages,  viz.,  by  fasting, 
stopping  business,  praying,  and  meeting  in  congre- 
gations in  their  respective  places  of  worship.  The 
only     Western     method     contemplated     was    passing 


XIV  PREFACE 

resolutions  and  sending  telegrams  to  the  authorities 
in  India  and  England.     The  30th  of  March  was  thus^ 
observed  as  a  national  protest  day  throughout  India' 
and  there  was  only  one  clash  between  the  people  and 
the  Government,  viz.,  at  Delhi,  the  national  capital. 

Delhi  has  been  the  national  capital  of  India  from 
times  immemorial.  It  was  the  chief  capital  city  of 
the  Moguls.  It  has  a  mixed  population  of  Hindus 
and  Mohammedans,  almost  evenly  divided.  The 
European  population  there  is  not  very  large.  There 
is  a  British  garrison  stationed  in  the  Mogul  fort. 
Besides  being  the  capital  of  British  India,  Delhi  is 
a  very  important  trade  center  and  the  terminus  of 
several  railway  lines.  All  business  was  stopped, 
shops  closed  and  the  city  gave  an  appearance  of  a 
general  strike.  A  mass  meeting  attended  by  40,000 
people,  according  to  British  estimates,  and  presided 
over  by  a  religious  ascetic,  passed  resolutions  of  pro- 
test and  cabled  them  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
India  in  London.  It  was  at  Delhi  and  on  this  day  as 
already  stated  that  the  first  clash  occurred  between  the 
authorities  and  the  people.  It  is  immaterial  how  it 
came  about  but  it  may  be  noted  that  rifles  and  machine 
guns  were  freely  used  in  dispersing  the  mobs  at  the 
railway  station  and  other  places.  According  to 
official  estimates  fourteen  persons  were  killed  and 
about  sixty  wounded.  The  non-official  estimates 
give  larger  figures.  Evidently  nothing  serious  hap- 
pened between  March  30th  and  April  6th  which  last  j 
was  observed  as  a  day  of  mourning  throughout  British 
India  from  Peshawar  to  Cape  Comorin  and  from  Cal- 
cutta to  Karachi  and  Bombay.  People  held  meetings, 
made  speeches,  marched  in  processions,  took  pledges 


PREFACE  XV 

of  passive  resistance,  closed  shops,  suspended  business, 
bathed  in  the  sea,  joined  in  prayer  and  fasted.  No 
violence  of  any  kind  was  reported.  In  the  words  of 
a  correspondent  of  the  London  Times,  "the  distin- 
guishing feature  of  many  of  these  demonstrations 
[meaning  thereby  passive  resistance  demonstrations] 
made  on  the  6th  of  April,  specially  at  Delhi,  Agra, 
Bombay  and  Calcutta,  is  the  Hindu  and  Moslem 
fraternization,  Hindus  being  freely  admitted  to  the 
mosques,  on  occasions  occupying  the  Mihrab  (the 
niche  indicating  the  direction  of  Mecca)."  In  a 
message  dated  April  7th  the  same  correspondent 
cabled  "an  unprecedented  event  in  the  shape  of  a 
joint  Moslem-Hindu  service  at  the  famous  Juma 
Masjed  at  Delhi,  at  which  a  Hindu1  delivered  a  ser- 
mon." The  Juma  Masjed  is  one  of  the  jewels  of 
Mogul  architecture  and  probably  the  biggest  mosque 
in  India.- 

On  April  9th  Sir  Michael  O'Dwyer,  the  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  the  Punjab,  dwelt  with  pride  on  the  fact 
that  the  province  ruled  by  him  with  an  iron  hand 
for  the  last  five  years  "had  raised  360,000  combatants 
during  the  war."  "Dealing  with  the  political  situ- 
ation he  declared  that  the  Government  of  the  province 
was  determined  that  public  order  which  was  main- 
tained during  the  war,  should  not  be  disturbed  during 
peace.  Action  had  therefore  been  taken  under  the 
Defence  Act  against  certain  individuals  who  were 
openly  endeavoring  to  arouse  public  feeling  against 
the  Government."     It  was  this  action,  viz.,  the  sum- 

1  This  Hindu  happened  to  be  the  leader  of  a  section  of  the  Arya 
Samaj  —  an  organization  known  for  its  bitter  attitude  towards 
Mohammedanism. 


XVI  PREFACE 

mary  arrest  of  leaders  at  Amritsar  and  the  order  of 
prohibition  against  Mr.  Gandhi's  contemplated  visit 
to  the  Punjab,  that  set  fire  to  the  accumulated  maga- 
zine. It  exasperated  the  people  and  in  a  moment 
of  despair  the  intense  strain  of  the  last  few  weeks 
found  relief  in  attacks  on  Government  buildings  and 
stray  persons  of  European  extraction.  What  actually 
happened  in  different  places  no  one  can  definitely 
tell  just  at  this  stage  but  it  is  clear  that  at  places  so 
widely  distant  as  Amritsar  and  Lahore  in  the  Punjab 
and  Viramgam  in  the  Gujerat  (Western  Presidency) 
railway  stations,  telegraph  offices  and  some  other 
public  buildings  were  burned,  railway  traffic  inter- 
rupted, tram  cars  stopped  and  some  Europeans  killed 
and  attacked.  At  Amritsar  three  banks  were  burnt 
down  and  their  managers  killed.  Telegraphing  on 
April  15th  and  again  on  the  16th  of  April,  the  corre- 
spondent of  the  London  Times  remarked  that  "the 
Punjab  continued  to  be  the  principal  seat  of  trouble" 
which  was  probably  due  to  the  extremely  brutal 
methods  which  the  Punjab  Government  had  fol- 
lowed in  repressing  and  suppressing  not  only  the 
present  'riots'  but  also  all  kinds  of  political  activity 
in  the  preceding  six  years.  It  appears  that  in  about 
a  week's  time  almost  the  whole  province  was  ablaze. 
The  Government  used  machine  guns  in  dispersing 
meetings,  showered  bombs  from  aeroplanes  and  de- 
clared martial  law  in  several  towns,  extended  the 
seditious  meetings  prevention  Act  and  other  emer- 
gency laws  in  districts,  marched  flying  military  columns 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  accompanied  by  travelling 
courts  martial  to  try  and  punish  on  the  spot  all  ar- 
rested for  offences  committed  in  connection  with  the 


PREFACE  XV11 

passive  resistence  movement.  Leaders  were  arrested 
and  deported  without  trial  of  any  kind;  papers  were 
suppressed  and  all  kinds  of  demonstrations  prohibited. 
Among  the  leaders  arrested  are  the  names  of  some  of 
the  most  conservative  and  moderate  of  the  Punjab  public 
men  —  men  whose  whole  life  is  opposed  to  extremism  of 
any  kind.  Those  men  were  subjected  to  various  indig- 
nities, handcuffed  and  marched  to  jail.  They  have  been 
held  in  ordinary  prison  cells  and  all  comforts  have  been 
denied  to  them  as  if  they  were  criminals.  Counsel 
engaged  for  them  from  outside  the  Province  have  been 
refused  admission  into  the  Province.  Machine  guns 
and  aeroplanes  have  been  used  in  dispersing  unarmed 
mobs  and  crowds  were  fired  at  in  many  places.  At 
Lahore  the  General  Officer  Commanding  gave  notice 
"that  unless  all  the  shops  were  re-opened  within  48 
hours  all  goods  in  the  shops  not  opened  will  be  sold 
by  public  auction."  As  to  the  causes  of  the  upheaval, 
the  Anglo-Indian  view  is  contained  in  a  telegraphic 
message  to  the  London  Times  bearing  date  April  20th. 
Below  we  give  a  y^b^Um  copy  of  this  message: 

CAUSES   OF   THE   UPHEAVAL. 

"Bombay,  April  20. — We  have  passed  through 
the  most  anxious  ten  days  that  India  has  known  for 
half  a  century.  We  have  further  anxious  days  in 
store,  for  although  in  Bombay  conditions  are  improving 
and  Mr.  Gandhi  has  publicly  abandoned  the  passive 
resistance  movement,  while  men  of  weight  are  rallying 
to  the  support  of  the  Government,  the  situation  in 
Northern  India  is  disquieting. 

"We  may  pause  to  enquire  into  this  widespread 
manifestation  of  violence.  How  came  it  that  passive 
resistance  to  the  Rowlatt  Act  —  never  likely  to  be 
applied   to   the   greater   part   of   India,   especially   to 


XV111  PREFACE 

Bombay,  and  nominally  confined  to  the  sale  of  pro- 
scribed literature  of  doubtful  legality,  which  was  wan- 
ing —  suddenly  flamed  into  riot,  arson,  and  murder 
at  Delhi,  Ahmedabad,  Viramgam,  Amritsar,  and  other 
parts  of  the  Punjab  on  the  prevention  of  Mr.  Gandhi's 
entry  into  Delhi?  All  day  on  April  n  Bombay  stood 
on  the  brink  of  a  bloody  riot,  averted  only  by  the 
Governor,  Sir  George  Lloyd's  prudent  statesmanship 
and  the  great  restraint  of  the  police  and  military  in 
face  of  grave  provocation. 

"The  movement  seems  to  have  been  twofold.  In 
part  it  was  the  expression  of  the  prevailing  ferment. 
India  is  no  less  affected  than  other  parts  of  the  world 
by  the  social  and  intellectual  revolution  of  the  war, 
by  expectations  based  on  the  destruction  of  German 
materialism  and  by  ambitions  for  fuller  partnership 
in  the  British  Empire. 

PROFITEERING  AND  TRICKERY. 

"The  disruptive  effect  of  these  ideals  is  accentuated 
by  prevailing  conditions.  The  prices  of  food  are 
exceedingly  high,  supplies  are  scanty,  while  efforts  to 
control  prices  are  hampered  by  the  profiteering  and 
trade  trickery  unfortunately  never  absent  from  this 
country.     [As  if  it  was  absent  from  other  countries.] 

"India  having  been  swept  bare  of  foodstuffs,  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  the  war,  the  people  feel  that 
the  home  Government  is  lukewarm  in  releasing  sup- 
plies from  outside,  and  resent  particularly  that  the 
Shipping  Controller  is  maintaining  high  freights  on 
fat  and  rice  from  Burma.  These  severe  sufferings  are 
superimposed  on  the  devastating  influenza  and  cholera 
epidemics.  So  much  for  the  social  and  economic 
situation. 

"Then  the  activities  of  the  Indo-British  Association 
created  grave  doubts  whether  Parliament  will  deal 
fairly  with  India  when  the  reform  scheme  is  con- 
sidered. The  Rowlatt  Act  was  precipitated  into  this 
surcharged  atmosphere. 


PREFACE  XIX 

"The  Act  was  wickedly  perverted  by  the  Extremists 
until  among  the  common  people  it  became  the  general 
belief  that  it  gave  plenary  powers  to  a  police  which  was 
feared  and  distrusted.  Among  educated  people,  few 
of  whom  studied  the  report  or  the  Act,  it  was  bitterly 
resented  as  a  badge  of  India's  subjection  after  loyal 
participation  in  the  war,  at  a  time  when  the  strongest 
feeling  in  the  country  was  craving  for  its  self-respect 
in  the  eyes  of  the  nations.  Further,  it  was  regarded 
as  prejudicing  the  cause  of  political  reform. 

"Another  powerful  contributory  cause  was  the 
ferment  amongst  the  Moslem  community.  Every- 
where the  Moslems  believe  that  the  Peace  Conference 
is  bent  on  the  destruction  of  Islam.  There  is  no 
confidence  in  British  protection  after  our  declared 
policy  in  regard  to  Turkey  and  the  undoing  of  the 
settled  fact  in  Eastern  Bengal  in  191 1. 

"This  feeling  is  the  more  dangerous  because  it  is 
inchoate.  Moslem  officers  returned  from  Palestine 
and  Arabia,  and  acquainted  with  the  realities  of  Turk- 
ish rule,  have  expressed  astonishment  at  the  strength 
of  this  feeling  among  their  co-religionists  here.  Mo- 
hamedans  have  been  foremost  in  the  work  of  riot  and 
destruction  in  Ahmedabad  and  Delhi,  and  the  lower 
elements  were  ripe  for  trouble  in  Bombay.  I  am 
unable  to  say  how  far  this  ferment  affected  the  out- 
breaks in  the  Punjab. 

"This  seething  Moslem  unrest  is  the  most  menacing 
feature  of  Indian  politics  to-day.  It  explains  the 
unprecedented  admission  of  Hindus  to  the  Mosques 
of  Delhi  and  Aligarh.  .  .  . 

REVOLUTIONARY   INSPIRATION 

"So  much  for  the  general  situation.  In  Northern 
India  the  outbreaks  were  nakedly  revolutionary. 
They  are  unconnected  with  the  Rowlatt  Act  or  with 
passive  resistance,  which  probably  precipitated  a 
movement  long  concerted.  There  is  abundant  evidence 
of  the  organized  revolutionary  character  of  the  dis- 


XX  PREFACE 

turbances  in  the  systematic  attacks  on  railways, 
telegraphs,  and  all  means  of  communication,  and  its 
definitely  anti-British  character  is  apparent  from  the 
efforts  to  plunge  the  railways  into  a  general  strike. 

"There  are  signs  of  the  inter-connection  of  the 
Punjab  revolutionaries  with  the  Bombay  revolution- 
aries who  organized  attacks  on  communications  at 
Ahmedabad  and  Viramgam,  derailed  trains,  cut 
telegraphs,  and  sent  rowdies  from  Kaira  to  take  part 
in  the  work  of  destruction.  There  is  evidence  also 
of  some  outside  inspiration,  but  whether  Bolshevist 
or  otherwise  is  obscure. 

"  Whilst  in  the  Punjab  the  soil  was  fruitful,  owing 
to  economic  conditions,  the  ravages  of  influenza, 
and  the  pressure  of  last  year's  recruiting  campaign, 
the  revolutionary  origin  of  the  disturbances  is  un- 
questioned. .  .  ." 

As  usual  the  message  is  a  mixture  of  truth  and 
imagination.  At  most  it  is  a  partisan  view.  Be  the 
causes  what  they  may,  the  events  in  our  judgment 
amply  justify  the  following  conclusions: 

(a)  That  India  is  politically  united  in  demanding 
a  far  reaching  measure  of  self-determination. 

(b)  That  she  will  not  be  satisfied  with  paltry  meas- 
ures of  political  reform  which  do  not  give  her  power 
to  shape  her  fiscal  policy  in  her  own  interests,  inde- 
pendent of  control  from  London. 

(c)  That  it  is  useless  to  further  harp  on  the  "cleav- 
ages" of  race,  religion  and  language,  in  dealing  with  the 
problem  of  India. 

(d)  That  the  country  is  no  longer  prepared  to  let 
measures  of  coercion  pass  and  take  effect  without 
making  their  protest  and  dislike  known  to  the  authori- 
ties in  a  manner,  the  significance  of  which  may  not  be 
open  to  misunderstanding. 


PREFACE  XXI 

The  Indian  members  of  the  Legislative  Council 
while  opposing  the  Rowlatt  Bills  spoke  in  sufficiently 
clear  and  strong  language  of  the  grave  situation  the 
Government  was  creating  by  its  ill-considered  policy. 
They  knew  their  people.  The  bureaucracy  evidently 
dismissed  it  as  bluff  or,  if  it  knew  what  was  likely  to 
happen,  encouraged  it  in  the  hope  that  the  outbreak 
might  justify  their  opposition  to,  and  dislike  of,  the 
Montagu-Chelmsford  scheme.  In  doing  that  they 
have  had  to  hatch  the  eggs  they  themselves  laid. 
These  events  have,  besides,  proved  (a)  that  the  lead 
of  the  country  has  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  so 
called  "  natural  leaders,"  the  aristocracy  of  land, 
money  and  birth;  (b)  that  even  the  moderate  leaders 
have  considerably  lost  in  prestige  and  influence; 
(c)  that  the  lead  has  definitely  passed  into  hands  that 
openly  and  frankly  stand  for  self-determination  and 
self-government  within  the  Empire  and  are  prepared 
for  any  sacrifice  to  achieve  that  end;  (d)  that  the  old 
methods  of  governing  India  must  now  be  discarded 
once  for  all  and  the  charge  of  provinces  taken  away 
from  sun-dried  bureaucrats  of  the  type  of  Sir  Michael 
O'Dwyer  and  Sir  Reginald  Craddock. 

The  bloodshed  in  the  Punjab,  which  outdid  all 
other  Provinces  in  sending  help  during  the  war  both 
in  men  and  money,  pointed  to  the  administration  or 
mal-administration  of  Sir  Michael  O'Dwyer  as  re- 
sponsible for  the  nature  and  intensity  of  the  outbreak. 
If  ever  there  was  a  British  ruler  of  India  who  deserved 
impeachment  it  is  Sir  Michael  O'Dwyer.  He  was  not 
only  a  tyrant  and  a  snob  of  the  worst  order  but  he 
was  incompetent  also.  One  of  the  two  things  must 
have  happened:     Either  he   was   out   of   touch   with 


XX11  PREFACE 

public  feeling  in  the  province  or  he  deliberately  pro- 
voked this  disaster  by  a  policy  of  strength.  In  either 
case  he  deserves  to  be  publicly  impeached  and  con- 
demned for  incompetence  or  brutality  or  possibly  for 
both. 

The  following  Summary  of  the  orders  passed  by  the 
officer  commanding  shows  the  nature  of  the  martial 
law  administered  in  the  "most  loyal"  province  in 
India,  a  province  which  has  so  far  been  considered 
to  be  the  right  arm  of  British  Raj  in  India. 

I  have  italicised  some  nvords  and  sentences  for  special 
attention.  The  reader  I  hope  will  note  the  exceptions 
in  favor  of  the  Europeans  and  the  Indian  servants  in 
the  employ  of  the  Europeans  and  also  the  reasonable- 
ness of  the  other  orders,  threatening  punishment  upon 
the  owners  of  certain  properties  and  requiring  "all 
students,"  and  all  male  persons  belonging  to  private 
Colleges  in  Lahore  to  attend  four  times  a  day  at  a 
particular  place  for  roll  call.  Order  No.  14  is  a  gem 
of  great  brilliance. 

I  have  omitted  order  No.  6  as  unimportant.  Orders 
from  8  to  12  inclusive  are  not  available.  What  has 
been  given  above,  however,  is  quite  sufficient  to  show 
the  nature  of  the  martial  law  that  has  been  applied 
to  the  Punjab,  after  five  years  of  unquestioned  and 
unrivalled  loyalty  to  the  British  Empire,  in  the  period 
of  greatest  danger  that  had  overtaken  it.  Such  is  the 
reward  of  "loyalty." 

No.  1 

Whereas  the  Government  of  India  has  for  good  reasons  pro- 
claimed Martial  Law  in  the  districts  of  Lahore  and  Amritsar;   and 

Whereas  superior  military  authority  has  appointed  me  to  com- 
mand troops  and  administer  Martial  Law  in  a  portion  of  the  Lahore 
district,  .  .  .  and  whereas  Martial  Law  may  be  briefly  described 


PREFACE  XX1H 

as  the  will  of  the  Military  Commander  in  enforcing  law,  order  and 
public  safety: 

I  make  known  to  all  concerned  that  until  further  orders  by  me 
the  following  will  be  strictly  carried  out: 

i.  At  20-00  hours  (8  o'clock)  each  evening  a  gun  will  be  fired  from 
the  Fort,  and  from  that  signal  till  05-00  hours  (5  o'clock)  on  the 
following  morning  no  person  other  than  a  European  or  a  person  in 
possession  of  a  military  permit  signed  by  me  or  on  my  behalf  will  be 
permitted  to  leave  his  or  her  house  or  compound  or  the  building  in 
which  he  or  she  may  be  at  20  hours.  During  these  prohibited  hours 
no  person  other  than  those  excepted  above  will  be  permitted  to  use 
the  streets  or  roads,  and  any  person  found  disobeying  this  order  will 
be  arrested,  and  if  any  attempt  is  made  to  evade  or  resist  that  person 
will  be  liable  to  be  shot. 

This  and  all  other  orders  which  from  time  to  time  I  may  deem 
necessary  to  make  will  be  issued  on  my  behalf  from  the  water-works 
station  in  the  city,  whither  every  ward  will  keep  at  least  four  repre- 
sentatives from  6  a.m.,  till  17-00  hours  (5  p.m.)  daily  to  learn  what 
orders,  if  any,  are  issued  and  to  convey  such  orders  to  the  inhabitants 
of  their  respective  wards.  The  anus  of  ascertaining  the  orders  issued 
by  me  will  rest  on  the  people  through  their  representatives. 

2.  Loyal  and  law-abiding  persons  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
exercise  of  Martial  Law. 

3.  In  order  to  protect  the  lives  of  his  Majesty's  soldiers  and 
police  under  my  command,  I  make  known  that  if  any  firearm  is 
discharged  or  "bombs  thrown  at  them  the  most  drastic  reprisals 
will  instantly  be  made  against  property  surrounding  the  scene  of  the 
outrage.  Therefore  it  behooves  all  loyal  inhabitants  to  see  to  it  that 
no  evil-disposed  agitator  is  allowed  on  his  premises. 

4.  During  the  period  of  Martial  Law  I  prohibit  all  processions, 
meetings  or  other  gatherings  of  more  than  10  persons  without  my 
written  authority,  and  any  such  meetings,  gatherings  or  processions 
held  in  disobedience  of  this  order  will  be  broken  up  by  force  without 
warning. 

5.  I  forbid  any  person  to  offer  violence  or  cause  obstruction  to 
any  person  desirous  of  opening  his  shop  or  conducting  his  business 
or  proceeding  to  his  work  or  business.  Any  person  contravening 
this  order  will  be  arrested,  tried  by  a  summary  court  and  be  liable 
to  be  shot. 

6.  At  present  the  city  of  Lahore  enjoys  the  advantage  of  electric 
lights  and  a  water-supply;  but  the  continuance  of  these  supplies  will 
depend  on  the  good  behaviour  of  the  inhabitants  and  their  prompt 
obedience  to  my  orders. 

No.  2 
All  tongas  and  tum-tums,  (horse  carriages)  whether  licensed  for 
hire  or  otherwise,  will  be  delivered  up  to  the  Military  Officer 
appointed  for  that  purpose  at  the  Punjab  Light  Horse  ground  by 
17-00  (5  p.m.)  to-day  —  Tuesday,  15th  April.  Drivers  will  receive 
pay  and  horses  be  rationed. 


XXIV  PREFACE 

No.  3 

All  motor-cars  or  vehicles  of  any  descriptions  will  be  delivered 
to  the  Military  Officer  appointed  for  that  purpose  at  the  Punjab 
club  by  17-00  (5  p.m.)  this  day. 

No.  4 

By  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  me  I  have  prohibited  the  issue 
of  third  or  intermediate  class  tickets  at  all  railway  stations  in  the 
Lahore  Civil  Command,  except  only  in  the  case  of  servants  travelling 
with  their  European  masters  or  servants  or  others  in  the  employ  of  the 
Government. 

No.  5 

Whereas,  from  information  received  by  me,  it  would  appear  that 
shops,  generally  known  as  Langars,  for  the  sale  of  cooked  food,  are 
used  for  the  purpose  of  illegal  meetings,  and  for  the  dissemination  of 
seditious  propaganda,  and  whereas  I  notice  that  all  other  shops 
(particularly  in  Lahore  city)  have  been  closed  as  part  of  an  organized 
demonstration  against  his  Majesty's  Government,  now,  therefore, 
by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  me  under  Martial  Law,  I  order 
that  all  such  Langars  or  shops  for  the  sale  of  cooked  food  in  the 
Lahore  civil  area,  except  such  as  may  be  granted  an  exemption  in 
writing  by  me  shall  close  and  cease  to  trade  by  io-oo  hours  (10  a.m.) 
tomorrow,  Wednesday,  the  16th  April,  1919. 

Disobedience  to  this  order  will  result  in  the  confiscation  of  the 
contents  of  such  shop  and  the  arrest  and  trial  by  summary  procedure 
of  the  owner  or  owners. 

No.  7 
Whereas  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  certain  students  of  the 
D.  A.  V.  College  in  Lahore  are  engaged  in  spreading  seditious  propa- 
ganda directed  against  his  Majesty's  Government,  and  whereas  I 
deem  it  expedient  in  the  interests  of  the  preservation  of  law  and 
order  to  restrict  the  activities  of  such  students,  I  make  the  following 
order:  — 

All  students  of  the  said  college  now  in  this  Command  area  will 
report  themselves  to  the  Officer  Commanding  Troops  at  the  Brad- 
laugh  Hall  daily  at  the  hours  specified  below  and  remain  there  until 
the  roll  of  such  students  has  been  called  by  the  principal  or  some 
other  officer  approved  by  me  acting  on  his  behalf,  and  until  they 
have  been  dismissed  by  the  Officer  Commanding  Troops  at  Brad- 
laugh  Hall. 

07-00  hours.  (7  a.m.) 

1 1 -oo  hours.  (11  a.m.) 

15-00  hours.  (3  p.m.) 

19-30  hours.  (7.30  p.m.) 

No.  8 
Whereas  some  evilly-disposed  persons  have  torn  down  or  defaced 
notices  and  orders  which  I  have  caused  to  be  exhibited  for  infor- 


PREFACE  XXV 

mation  and  good  government  of  the  people  in  the  Lahore  (Civil) 
Command. 

In  future  all  orders  that  I  have  to  issue  under  Martial  Law  will 
be  handed  to  such  owners  of  property  as  I  may  select  and  it  will  be  the 
duty  of  such  owners  of  property  to  exhibit  and  keep  exhibited  and  un- 
damaged in  the  position  on  their  property  selected  by  me  all  such  orders. 

The  duty  of  protecting  such  orders  will  therefore  devolve  on 
the  owners  of  property  and  failure  to  ensure  the  proper  protection 
and  continued  exhibition  of  my  orders  will  result  in  severe  punish- 
ment. 

Similarly,  I  hold  responsible  the  owner  of  any  property  on  which 
seditious  or  any  other  notices,  proclamations  or  writing  not  aidhorized 
by  me  are  exhibited. 


No.  13 

Whereas  information  laid  before  me  shows  that  a  martial  law 
notice  issued  by  me  and  posted  by  my  orders  on  a  property  known 
as  the  Sanatan  Dharam  College  Hostel  on  Bahawalpur  road,  has  been 
torn  or  otherwise  defaced,  in  contravention  of  my  Martial  Law 
Notice  No.  8. 

Now,  therefore,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  me  under 
martial  law,  I  order  the  immediate  arrest  of  all  male  persons  domiciled 
in  the  said  hostel  and  their  internment  in  the  Lahore  Fort  pending  my 
further  orders  as  to  their  trial  or  other  disposal. 

No.  14 

Whereas  practically  every  shop  and  business  establishment  in  the 
area  under  my  command  has  been  closed  in  accordance  with  the 
hartal  or  organized  closure  of  business  directed  against  his  Majesty's 
Government. 

And  whereas  the  continuance  or  resumption  of  such  hartal  is 
detrimental  to  the  good  order  and  governance  of  the  said  area. 

And  whereas  I  deem  it  expedient  to  cause  the  said  hartal  to  entirely 


Now  therefore  by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  me  by  martial 
law  I  make  the  following  order,  namely:  — 

By  io-oo  hours  (10  a.m.)  tomorrow  (Friday),  the  18th  day  of 
April,  1919,  every  shop  and  business  establishment  (except  only 
langare  referred  to  in  martial  law  notice  No.  5,  dated  15th  April, 
1919)  in  the  area  under  my  command,  shall  open  and  carry  on  its 
business  and  tliereafter  daily  shall  continue  to  keep  open  and  carry  on 
its  business  during  the  usual  hours  up  to  20-00  hours  (8  p.m.)  in 
exactly  the  same  manner  as  Defore  tne  creation  of  the  said  hartal. 

And  likewise  I  order  that  every  skilled  or  other  worker  will  •from 
10-30  hours  (10.30  A.Mj_tomorrow,  resume  and  continue  during  the 
usual  hours  his  ordinary  trade,  work  or  calling. 

And  I  warn  all  concerned  that  if  at  io-oo  hours  (10  a.m.)  to- 
morrow, or  at  any  subsequent  time  I  find  this  order  has  been  with- 


XXVI  PREFACE 

out  good  and  valid  reason  disobeyed,  the  persons  concerned  will  be 
arrested  and  tried  under  the  summary  procedure  of  martial  law,  and 
shops  so  closed  will  be  opened  and  kept  open  by  force,  any  resultant 
loss  arising  from  such  forcible  opening  will  rest  on  the  owners  and  on 
occupiers  concerned. 

And  I  further  warn  all  concerned  that  this  order  must  be  strictly 
obeyed  in  spirit  as  well  as  in  letter,  that  is  to  say,  that  to  open  a 
shop  and  then  refuse  to  sell  goods  and  to  charge  an  exorbitant  or 
prohibitive  rate,  will  be  deemed  a  contravention  of  this  order. 

[Note:  Shops  had  evidently  remained  closed  for  seven  days.] 

No.  15 

Whereas  it  has  come  to  my  knowledge  that  the  present  state  of 
unrest  is  being  added  to  and  encouraged  by  the  spreading  of  false, 
inaccurate  or  exaggerated  reports  or  rumours: 

Now,  therefore,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  me  by  martial 
law  I  give  notice  that  any  person  found  guilty  of  publishing,  spread- 
ing or  repeating,  false,  inaccurate  or  exaggerated  reports  in  con- 
nection with  the  military  or  political  situation,  will  be  arrested  and 
summarily  dealt  with  under  martial  law. 

No.  16 
Whereas  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  certain  students  of  the 
Dyal  Singh  College  in  Lahore  are  engaged  in  spreading  seditious 
propaganda  directed  against  his  Majesty's  Government  and  whereas 
I  deem  it  expedient  in  the  interest  of  the  preservation  of  law  and 
order  to  restrict  the  activities  of  such  students,  I  make  the  following 
order:  — 

All  students  of  the  said  college  now  in  this  command  area  will 
report  themselves  to  the  officer  commanding  troops  at  the  tele- 
graph office  daily  at  the  hours  specified  below  and  remain  there 
until  the  roll  of  such  students  has  been  called  by  the  principal  or 
some  other  officer  approved  by  me  acting  on  his  behalf,  and  until 
they  have  been  dismissed  by  the  Officer  Commanding  Troops  at 
the  telegraph  office:  — 

07-00  hours.  (7  a.m.) 

ii-oo  hours.  (11  a.m.) 

15-00  hours.  (3  p.m.) 

19-00  hours.  (7  p.m.) 

First  parade  at  n 'oo  hours  (n  a.m.)  on  the  (?)  April,  iqiq. 

"The  latest  order  under  martial  law  passed  today  makes  it  un- 
lawful for  more  than  two  persons  to  walk  abreast  on  any  constructed 
or  clearly  defined  pavement  or  side-walk  in  such  area.  Disobedience 
to  this  order  will  be  punished  by  special  powers  under  martial  law. 
It  shall  also  be  illegal  for  any  male  person  to  carry  or  be  found  in 
possession  of  an  instrument  known  as  a  lathi.  All  persons  dis- 
obeying this  order  will  be  arrested  and  tried  by  summary  proceed- 
ings under  martial  law." 


PREFACE  XXV11 

No.  24 

Whereas  I  deem  it  expedient  to  make  provision  for  the  preser- 
vation of  health  and  the  greater  comfort  of  British  troops  stationed 
in  the  area  under  my  command, 

And  whereas  a  number  of  electric  fans  and  lights  are  required  in 
the  buildings  in  which  some  of  such  troops  are  quartered, 

Now  therefore  by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  me  by  martial 
law  I  authorize  any  officer  appointed  by  me  for  that  purpose  to  enter 
any  college,  public  building,  hostel,  hotel,  private  or  other  residence 
or  building  and  remove  such  number  of  .electric  lights  and  fans 
required  for  the  purpose  aforesaid, 

And  any  attempt  to  obstruct  such  removal,  or  to  hide,  or  to  damage 
or  to  impair  the  immediate  efficiency  of  any  such  fans  or  lights,  will 
be  summarily  dealt  with  under  martial  law, 

But  nothing  in  this  order  shall  authorize  the  removal  of  any  fan  or 
light  from  a  room  usually  inhabited  by  a  woman. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  orders  we  have  been  able  to  obtain. 

For  weeks  the  Punjab  was  in  a  state  of  terror.  Almost  all  of  the 
Native  papers  were  either  directly  or  indirectly  suppressed  or  ter- 
rorized into  silence.  Numerous  persons  were  arrested  and  placed  for 
trial  before  military  commissioners.  Among  them  were  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  most  honored  men  in  the  province.  Legal  counsel  from 
ouside  the  province  was  denied  to  them,  and  admission  of  newspaper- 
men into  the  province  barred.  In  punishing  the  persons  found 
guilty  the  military  commissioners  have  awarded  sentences,  the 
parallel  of  which  can  only  be  found  in  the  history  of  Czarism  in 
Russia.  Flogging  in  the  public  was  resorted  to  in  more  than  one 
place.  In  short,  a  complete  reign  of  terror  was  established.  So 
great  was  the  terrorism  that  the  whole  country  was  thrown  into 
such  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  anger  and  despair  as  to  make  the  people 
forget  the  desire  for  a  political  constitution  at  this  terrible  price. 

Just  as  I  am  writing  these  lines  I  learn  from  the 
London  Times  that  the  reports  of  the  two  committees 
that  were  sent  to  India  to  inquire  into  (a)  questions 
connected  with  the  franchise  and  (b)  the  division  of 
functions  between  the  Government  of  India  and  local 
governments,  and  between  the  official  and  the  popular 
elements  in  the  local  governments,  have  been  published 
in  Great  Britain.  In  one  of  the  Appendices  is  given  a 
rather  brief  and  inadequate  summary  of  the  recommen- 
dations of  these  committees  published  by  the  London 
Times.     At  this  stage  it  is  impossible  to  make  any 


XXV111  PREFACE 

comments  except  that  the  franchise  is  by  no  means  as 
broad  as  it  could  have  been,  the  restriction  of  local 
residence  on  candidates  for  the  provincial  Legislative 
Councils  extremely  unreasonable,  and  the  strength 
of  the  Provincial  Councils  very  meagre.  The  recom- 
mendations are  unsatisfactory  in  other  respects  also, 
specially  the  power  granted  to  the  Governor  to  dis- 
miss ministers. 

The  question,  however,  is,  "Will  the  Cabinet  stand 
by  these  recommendations  or  will  they  allow  them  to 
be  whittled  down?"  Mr.  Montagu's  bill,  which  is 
promised  to  be  introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons 
early  in  June,  will  answer  the  question. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  to  tender  my  thanks  to  my 
friend  Dr.  J.  T.  Sunderland  for  having  read  my  proofs. 

June  2,  ioiq.  T  t. 

\   y  y  Lajpat  Rai 


'/ 


CONTENTS 

Preface, v 
i  Introductory,  i 
n  Democracy  in  India,  16 
m  The  Present  Ideals,  30 
rv  The  Stages,  36 

v  The  Conditions  of  the  Problem,  39 
vi  The  Public  Services  in  India,  62 
vn  The  Indian  Army  and  Navy,  84 
vm  The  European  Community  in  India,  91  * 
rx  The  Native  States,  98 
x  The  Proposals,  iio 
I  xi  India's  Claim  to  Fiscal  Autonomy,  136   ' 
xn  The  Revolutionary  Movement,  146    S 
xin  The  Punjab,  164 

xiv  Recommendations  for  Repressive  Legislation,  175 
xv  The  Revolutionary  Party,  181     / 
xvi  Education,  190  \S 

xvn  The  Problem,  197 
xvm  The  International  Aspect,  205 
Appendix  A,  209 
Appendix  B,  225 
Appendix  C,  231 


The  Political  Future  of  India 


INTRODUCTORY 

Now  we  are  faced  with  the  greatest  and 
the  grimmest  struggle  of  all.  Liberty, 
Equality,  Fraternity,  not  amongst  men, 
but  amongst  nations  —  great  and  small, 
powerful  and  weak,  exalted  and  humble, 
—  equality,  fraternity,  amongst  peoples 
as  well  as  amongst  men  —  that  is  the 
challenge  which  has  been  thrown  to  us.  .  .  . 
My  appeal  to  the  people  of  this  country, 
and,  if  my  appeal  can  reach  beyond  it,  is 
this,  that  we  should  continue  to  fight  for 
the  great  goal  of  international  right  and 
international  justice,  so  that  never  again 
shall  brute  force  sit  on  the  throne  of  justice, 
nor  barbaric  strength  wield  the  sceptre  of 
right. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"Causes  and  Aims  of  the  War."  Speech 
delivered  at  Glasgow,  on  being  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  that  city,  June  29, 191 7 

We  are  told  that  the  world  is  going  to  be  recon- 
structed on  entirely  new  lines;  that  all  nations,  big  or 
small,  shall  be  allowed  the  right  of  self-determination; 
that  the  weaker  and  backward  peoples  will  no  longer 
be  permitted  to  be  exploited  and  dominated  by  the 
stronger  and  the  more  advanced  nations  of  the  earth; 
and  that  justice  will  be  done  to  all.  "What  we  seek," 
says  President  Wilson,  "is  the  reign  of  law,  based  upon 
the  consent  of  the  governed  and  sustained  by  the 
organized  opinion  of  mankind." 


2  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

The  Indian  people  also  form  a  part  of  the  world  that 
needs  reconstructing.  They  constitute  one-fifth  of 
the  human  race,  and  inhabit  about  two  million  square 
miles  of  very  fertile  and  productive  territory.  They 
have  been  a  civilized  people  for  thousands  of  years, 
though  their  civilization  is  a  bit  different  from  that  of 
the  West.  We  advisedly  say  "a  bit  different,"  because 
In  fundamentals  that  civilization  has  the  same  basic 
origin  as  that  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  three  peoples 
having  originally  sprung  from  the  same  stock  and 
their  languages,  also,  being  of  common  descent.  For 
the  last  150  years,  or  (even)  more,  India  has  been  ruled 
by  Great  Britain.  Her  people  have  been  denied  any 
determining  voice  in  the  management  of  their  own 
affairs.  For  over  thirty  years  or  more  they  have  car- 
ried on  an  organized  agitation  for  an  autonomous  form 
of  Government  within  the  British  Empire.  This 
movement  received  almost  no  response  from  the  re- 
sponsible statesmen  of  the  Empire  until  late  in  the 
war.  In  the  meantime  some  of  the  leaders  grew  sullen 
and  downhearted,  and,  under  the  influence  of  bitter 
disappointment  and  almost  of  despair,  took  to  revolu- 
tionary forms.  The  bulk  of  the  people,  however,  have 
kept  their  balance  and  have  never  faltered  in  their 
faith  in  peaceful  methods.  When  the  war  broke  out 
the  people  of  India  at  once  realized  the  world  signifi- 
cance of  this  titanic  struggle  and  in  no  uncertain  voice 
declared  their  allegiance  to  the  cause  of  the  Allies. 
Our  masters,  however,  while  gratefully  accepting  our 
economic  contributions  and  utilizing  the  standing 
Indian  army,  spurned  our  offers  for  further  military 
contributions.  In  the  military  development  of  the  In- 
dians they  saw  a  menace  to  their  supremacy  in  India. 


INTRODUCTORY  3 

The  Russian  Revolution  first,  and  then  the  entry  of 
the  United  States  into  the  War,  brought  about  a 
change  in  the  point  of  view  of  the  British  statesmen. 
For  the  first  time  they  realized  that  they  could  not 
win  the  war  without  the  fullest  cooperation  of  the 
people  of  India,  both  in  the  military  and  the  economic 
sense  and  that  the  fullest  cooperation  of  the  United 
States  also  required  as  a  condition  precedent,  quite  a 
radical  revision  of  their  war  aims.  President  Wilson's 
political  idealism,  his  short,  pithy  and  epigrammatic 
formulas  compelled  similar  declarations  by  Allied 
statesmen.  The  British  statesmen,  at  the  helm  of 
affairs,  found  it  necessary  to  affirm  their  faith  in  Presi- 
dent Wilson's  principles  and  formulas  if  they  would 
not  let  the  morale  of  their  own  people  at  home  suffer 
in  comparison.  In  the  meantime  the  situation  in 
India  was  becoming  uncomfortable.  The  Nationalists 
and  the  Home  Rulers  insisted  on  a  clear  and  une- 
quivocal declaration  of  policy  on  the  lines  of  President 
Wilson's  principles.  The  British  statesmen  in  charge 
of  Indian  affairs,  at  Whitehall,  were  still  temporizing 
when  the  report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  causes 
of  the  Mesopotamia  disaster  burst  out  on  the  half- 
dazed  British  mind  like  a  bombshell.  To  the  awaken- 
ing caused  by  the  report  and  its  disclosures  a  material 
contribution  was  made  by  the  outspoken,  candid 
and  clear-cut  speech  of  a  younger  statesman,  whose 
knowledge  of  the  working  of  the  Indian  Government 
could  not  be  questioned.  When  the  Parliament, 
press  and  platform  were  all  ablaze  with  indignation 
and  shame  at  the  supposed  incompetence  of  the  Indian 
Government,  to  whose  inefficiency  and  culpable 
neglect  of  duty  were  ascribed  the  series  of  disasters 


4  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

that  ended  with  the  surrender  of  a  British  force  at 
Kut-el-amara,  Mr.  Edwin  Samuel  Montagu,  who  had 
been  an  Under  Secretary  for  India  under  Lord  Morley 
and  was  at  the  time  of  the  Mesopotamia  disaster 
Minister  of  Munitions,  came  out  with  a  strong  and 
emphatic  condemnation  of  the  system  and  the  form 
of  Government  under  which  the  " myriads"  of  India 
lived  and  had  their  affairs  managed.  Mr.  Montagu's 
opinion  of  the  machinery  of  the  Indian  Government 
was  expressed  as  follows: 

"The  machinery  of  Government  in  this  country 
with  its  unwritten  constitution,  and  the  machinery  of 
Government  in  our  Dominions  has  proved  itself  suffi- 
ciently elastic,  sufficiently  capable  of  modification, 
to  turn  a  peace-pursuing  instrument  into  a  war-making 
instrument.  It  is  the  Government  of  India  alone  which 
does  not  seem  capable  of  transformation,  and  I  regard 
that  as  based  upon  the  fact  that  the  machinery  is 
statute-ridden  machinery.  The  Government  of  India 
is  too  wooden,  too  iron,  too  inelastic,  too  antediluvian, 
to  be  any  use  for  the  modern  purposes  we  have  in 
view.  I  do  not  believe  that  anybody  could  ever 
support  the  Government  of  India  from  the  point  of 
view  of  modern  requirements.  But  it  would  do. 
Nothing  serious  had  happened  since  the  Indian  mutiny, 
the  public  was  not  interested  in  Indian  affairs,  and 
it  required  a  crisis  to  direct  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  Indian  Government  is  an  indefensible  system  of 
Government." 

Regarding  the  Indian  Budget  Debates  in  Parlia- 
ment, he  said: 

"Does  anybody  remember  the  Indian  Budget 
Debates  before  the  War?  Upon  that  day  the  House 
was  always  empty.  India  did  not  matter,  and  the 
Debates  were  left  to  people  on  the  one  side  whom 
their   enemies   sometimes   called    "  bureaucrats,' '   and 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

on  the  other  side  to  people  whom  their  enemies  some- 
times called  "seditionists,"  until  it  almost  came  to  be 
disreputable  to  take  part  in  Indian  Debates.  It 
required  a  crisis  of  this  kind  to  realise  how  important 
Indian  affairs  were.  After  all,  is  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  be  blamed  for  that?  What  was  the  Indian 
Budget  Debate?  It  was  a  purely  academic  discussion 
which  had  no  effect  whatever  upon  events  in  India, 
conducted  after  the  events  that  were  being  discussed, 
had  taken  place." 

He  held  that  the  salary  of  the  Indian  Secretary 
of  State  should  be  paid  from  the  British  Treasury, 
and  then  there  would  be  real  debates: 

"How  can  you  defend  the  fact  that  the  Secretaries 
of  State  for  India  alone  of  all  the  occupants  of  the 
Front  Bench,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  are  not  responsible 
to  this  House  for  their  salaries,  and  do  not  come  here 
with  their  Estimates  in  order  that  the  House  of  Com- 
mons may  express  its  opinion.  .  .  . 

"What  I  am  saying  now  is  in  the  light  of  these 
revelations  of  this  inelasticity  of  Indian  government. 
However  much  you  could  gloss  over  those  indefensible 
proceedings  in  the  past,  the  time  has  now  come  to 
alter  them. 

"The  tone  of  those  Debates  is  unreal,  unsubstantial 
and  ineffective.  If  Estimates  for  India,  like  Esti- 
mates for  the  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
and  the  Colonial  Secretary  were  to  be  discussed  on  the 
floor  of  the  House  of  Commons,  the  Debates  on  India 
would  be  as  good  as  the  Debates  on  foreign  affairs. 
After  all,  what  is  the  difference?  Has  it  even  been 
suggested  to  the  people  of  Australia  that  they  should 
pay  the  salary  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colony? 
Why  should  the  whole  cost  of  that  building  in  Charles 
Street,  including  the  building  itself,  be  an  item  of  the 
Indian  taxpayer's  burden  rather  than  of  this  House 
of  Commons  and  the  people  of  the  country?" 


O  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

Can  and  does  the  House  of  Commons  control  the 
India  Office?     Here  is  Mr.  Montagu's  answer. 

"It  has  been  sometimes  questioned  whether  a  dem- 
ocracy can  rule  an  Empire.  I  say  that  in  this  in- 
stance the  democracy  has  never  had  the  opportunity 
of  trying.  But  even  if  the  House  of  Commons  were 
to  give  orders  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Secretary 
of  State  is  not  his  own  master.  In  matters  vitally 
affecting  India,  he  can  be  overruled  by  a  majority  of 
his  Council.  I  may  be  told  that  the  cases  are  very 
rare  in  which  the  Council  has  differed  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  India.  I  know  one  case  anyhow, 
where  it  was  a  very  near  thing,  and  where  the  action 
of  the  Council  might  without  remedy  have  involved 
the  Government  of  India  in  a  policy  out  of  harmony 
with  the  declared  policy  of  the  House  of  Commons  and 
the  Cabinet.  And  these  gentlemen  are  appointed  for 
seven  years,  and  can  only  be  controlled  from  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  by  a  resolution  carried  in  both 
Houses  calling  on  them  for  their  resignations.  The 
whole  system  of  the  India  Office  is  designed  to  prevent 
control  by  the  House  of  Commons  for  fear  that  there 
might  be  too  advanced  a  Secretary  of  State.  I  do 
not  say  that  it  is  possible  to  govern  India  through  the 
intervention  of  the  Secretary  of  State  with  no  expert 
advice,  but  what  I  do  say  is  that  in  this  epoch  now 
after  the  Mesopotamia  Report,  he  must  get  his  expert 
advice  in  some  other  way  than  by  this  Council  of  men, 
great  men  though,  no  doubt,  they  always  are,  who 
come  home  after  lengthy  service  in  India  to  spend  the 
first  years  of  their  retirement  as  members  of  the 
Council  of  India. 

"Does  any  Member  of  this  House  know  much  about 
procedure  in  the  India  Office?  I  have  been  to  the 
India  Office  and  to  other  offices.  I  tell  this  House 
that  the  statutory  organization  of  the  India  Office 
produces  an  apotheosis  of  circumlocution  and  red  tape 
beyond  the  dreams  of  any  ordinary  citizen." 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

His  own  idea  of  what  should  be  done  at  that  juncture 
was  thus  expressed: 

"But  whatever  be  the  object  of  your  rule  in  India, 
the  universal  demand  of  those  Indians  whom  I  have 
met  and  corresponded  with,  is  that  you  should  state 
it.  Having  stated  it,  you  should  give  some  instalment 
to  show  that  you  are  in  real  earnest,  some  beginning  of 
the  new  plan  which  you  intend  to  pursue,  that  gives 
you  the  opportunity  of  giving  greater  representative 
institutions  in  some  form  or  other  to  the  people  of 
India.  ... 

"But  I  am  positive  of  this,  that  your  great  claim  to 
continue  the  illogical  system  of  Government  by  which 
we  have  governed  India  in  the  past  is  that  it  was 
efficient.  It  has  been  proved  to  be  not  efficient.  It 
has  been  proved  to  be  not  sufficiently  elastic  to  express 
the  will  of  the  Indian  people;  to  make  them  into  a 
warring  Nation  as  they  wanted  to  be.  The  history  of 
this  War  shows  that  you  can  rely  upon  the  loyalty  of 
the  Indian  people  to  the  British  Empire  —  if  you  ever 
before  doubted  it!  If  you  want  to  use  that  loyalty, 
you  must  take  advantage  of  that  love  of  country  which 
is  a  religion  in  India,  and  you  must  give  them  that 
bigger  opportunity  of  controlling  their  own  destinies, 
?  not  merely  by  Councils  which  cannot  act,  but  by 
control,  by  growing  control,  of  the  Executive  itself. 
Then  in  your  next  War  —  if  we  ever  have  War  —  in 
your  next  crisis,  through  times  of  peace,  you  will  have 
a  contented  India,  an  India  equipped  to  help.  Believe 
me,  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  not  a  question  of  expediency, 
it  is  not  a  question  of  desirability.  Unless  you  are 
prepared  to  remodel,  in  the  light  of  modern  experience, 
this  century-old  and  cumberous  machine,  then,  I 
believe,  I  verily  believe,  that  you  will  lose  your  right 
to  control  the  destinies  of  the  Indian  Empire." 

The  quick  and  resourceful  mind  of  Premier  Lloyd 
George  at  once   grasped   the  situation.     He  lost   no 


8  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

time  in  deciding  what  was  needed.  Probably  over 
the  head  of  his  Tory  colleagues,  possibly  with  their 
consent,  he  gave  the  Indian  portfolio  to  Mr.  Montagu, 
and  told  him  quietly  to  set  to  business.  Mr.  Mon- 
tagu's first  step  was  the  announcement  of  August  20, 
191 7.  On  that  date  he  made  in  the  House  of  Commons 
the  following  memorable  statement: 

"The  policy  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  with 
which  the  Government  of  India  are  in  complete  accord, 
is  that  of  the  increasing  association  of  Indians  in  every 
branch  of  the  administration  and  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  self-governing  institutions  with  a  view  to  the 
progressive  realisation  of  responsible  government  in 
India  as  an  integral  part  of  the  British  Empire.  They 
have  decided  that  substantial  steps  in  this  direction 
should  be  taken  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that  it  is  of 
the  highest  importance  as  a  preliminary  to  considering 
what  these  steps  should  be  that  there  should  be  a  free 
and  informal  exchange  of  opinion  between  those  in 
authority  at  home  and  in  India.  His  Majesty's 
Government  have  accordingly  decided,  with  His 
Majesty's  approval,  that  I  should  accept  the  Viceroy's 
invitation  to  proceed  to  India  to  discuss  these  matters 
with  the  Viceroy  and  the  Government  of  India,  to 
consider  with  the  Viceroy  the  views  of  local  Govern- 
ments, and  to  receive  with  him  the  suggestions  of 
representative  bodies  and  others. 

"I  would  add  that  progress  in  this  policy  can  only 
be  achieved  by  successive  stages.  The  British  Govern- 
ment and  the  Government  of  India,  on  whom  the 
responsibility  lies  for  the  welfare  and  advancement  of 
the  Indian  peoples,  must  be  judges  of  the  time  and 
measure  of  each  advance,  and  they  must  be  guided  by 
the  co-operation  received  from  those  upon  whom  new 
opportunities  of  service  will  thus  be  conferred  and  by 
the  extent  to  which  it  is  found  that  confidence  can  be ' 
reposed  in  their  sense  of  responsibility. 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

"Ample  opportunity  will  be  afforded  for  public 
discussion  of  the  proposals  which  will  be  submitted  in 
due  course  to  Parliament.' ' 

It  is  obvious  that  the  content  of  the  second  sen- 
tence of  paragraph  two  in  the  above  announcement 
is  in  fundamental  opposition  to  the  right  of  every 
nation  to  self-determination,  a  principle  now  admitted 
to  be  of  general  application  (including,  according  to 
the  British  Premier,  even  the  black  races  inhabiting 
the  Colonies  that  were  occupied  by  Germany  before 
the  War,  within  its  purview).  The  people  of  India 
are  not  on  the  level  of  these  races.  Even  if  it  be 
assumed  that  they  are  not  yet  in  a  position  to  exercise 
that  right,  fully  and  properly,  it  is  neither  right  nor 
just  to  assume  that  they  shall  never  be  in  that  position 
even  hereafter.  The  qualifications  implied  in  that 
sentence  are,  besides,  quite  needless  and  superfluous. 
As  long  as  India  remains  "an  integral  part  of  the 
British  Empire"  she  cannot  draft  a  constitution  which 
does  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  British  Parlia- 
ment and  the  British  Sovereign.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  British  statesmen  could  not  rise  equal  to  the 
spirit  of  the  times  and  make  an  announcement  free 
from  that  spirit  of  autocratic  bluster  and  racial  swagger 
which  was  entirely  out  of  place  at  a  time  when  they 
were  making  impassioned  appeals  to  Indian  manhood 
to  share  the  burdens  of  Empire  by  contributing  un- 
grudgingly in  men  and  money  for  its  defence.  This 
attitude  is  somewhat  inconsistent  with  the  statements 
in  paragraph  179  of  the  Montagu-Chelmsford  Report, 
wherein,  after  referring  to  the  natural  evolution  of 
"the  desire  for  self-determination,"  the  distinguished 
authors  of  the  Report  concede  that  "the  demand  that 


IO  THE   POLITICAL   FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

now  meets  us  from  the  educated  classes  of  India  is 
no  more  than  the  right  and  natural  outcome  of  the 
work  of  a  hundred  years." 

In  spite  of  this  uncalled  for  reservation  in  the  an- 
nouncement, it  is  perfectly  true  that  "the  announce- 
ment marks  the  end  of  one  epoch  and  the  beginning 
of  a  new  one."  What  makes  the  announcement 
"  momentous,"  however,  is  not  the  language  used,  as 
even  more  high-sounding  phrases  have  been  used 
before  by  eminent  British  statesmen  of  the  position 
of  Warren  Hastings,  Macaulay,  Munroe,  Metcalf  and 
others,  but  the  fact  that  the  statement  has  been  made 
by  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  as  representing 
the  Crown  and  the  Cabinet  who,  in  their  turn,  are 
the  constitutional  representatives  of  the  people  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  statement  is  thus 
both  morally  and  legally  binding  on  the  British 
people,  though  it  will  not  acquire  that  character  so 
far  as  the  people  of  India  are  concerned,  unless  it  is 
embodied  in  a  Statute  of  Parliament.  Is  it  too  much 
to  hope  that  when  that  stage  comes  the  second  sentence 
of  the  second  paragraph  might  be  omitted  or  so  modified 
as  to  remove  the  inconsistency  pointed  out  above? 

We  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  language  of 
the  announcement  notwithstanding,  the  destiny  of 
India  remains  ultimately  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians 
themselves.  It  will  be  determined,  favorably  or 
unfavorably,  by  the  solidity  of  their  public  life,  by 
the  purity  and  idealism  of  the  Indian  public  men  to 
be  hereafter  entrusted  with  the  task  of  administration, 
by  the  honesty  and  intensity  of  their  endeavor  to 
uplift  the  masses,  both  intellectually  and  economically, 
by  the  extent  to  which  they  reduce  the  religious  and 


INTRODUCTORY  II 

communal  excuses  that  are  being  put  forth  as  reasons 
for  half-hearted  advance,  and  by  the  amount  of  political 
unity  they  generate  in  the  nation.  The  well  known 
maxim  that  those  who  will  must  by  themselves  be  free, 
is  as  good  today  as  ever.  They  will  have  to  do  all 
this  in  order  to  persuade  the  British  Parliament  to 
declare  them  fit  for  responsible  Government.  Once 
they  show  their  fitness  by  deeds  and  by  actual  conduct, 
no  one  can  keep  them  in  leading-strings. 

Coming  back  to  the  announcement  itself,  would  it 
not  be  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  what  differentiates 
this  announcement  from  the  statutory  declarations  of 
the  Act  of  1833  and  the  Royal  proclamation  of  1858 
is  not  the  language  used  but  the  step  or  steps  taken  to 
ascertain  Indian  opinion,  to  understand  and  interpret 
it  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  the 
frankness  and  fairness  with  which  the  whole  problem 
is  stated  in  the  joint  report  of  the  two  statesmen,  who 
are  the  present  official  heads  of  the  Government  of 
India.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  the  announcement 
and  the  report  have  received  the  cordial  appreciation 
of  the  Indian  leaders. 

We,  that  is,  the  Indian  Nationalists,  have  heretofore 
concerned  ourselves  more  with  criticism  of  the  British 
administration  than  with  the  problem  of  construction, 
though  our  criticism  has  never  been  merely  destructive. 
We  have  always  ended  with  constructive  suggestions. 
Henceforth,  if  the  spirit  of  the  announcement  is  trans- 
lated into  deeds  it  will  be  our  duty  to  cooperate  actively 
in  constructive  thought.  Not  that  we  refused  coopera- 
tion in  the  past,  but  the  conditions  and  the  terms  on 
which  we  were  asked  to  cooperate  made  it  impossible 
for  us  to  make  an  effective  response. 


12  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

Several  British  critics  of  the  Indian  Nationalists 
have  from  time  to  time  charged  them  with  lack  of 
constructive  ability.  They  ignore  the  fact  that 
political  conditions  in  India  were  an  effective  bar  to 
any  display  of  ability. 

The  first  attempt  at  constitution  making  was  made 
by  the  Congress  in  1915,  and  as  such  was  bound  to  be 
rather  timid  and  half-hearted.  The  situation  since 
then  has  considerably  improved  and  the  discussions 
of  the  last  twelve  months  have  enabled  the  Secretary 
for  India  and  the  Viceroy  to  claim  that,  in  certain 
respects,  at  least,  their  scheme  is  a  more  effective 
step  towards  responsible  Government  than  the  scheme 
promulgated  jointly  by  the  Congress  and  the  Muslim 
League.  How  far  that  claim  can  be  substantiated 
remains  to  be  seen.  This  much  is,  however,  clear: 
come  what  may,  along  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  India 
cannot  go  back  to  the  pre-war  conditions  of  life.  The 
high  functionaries  of  the  British  Government  in  India 
are  also  conscious  of  that  fact,  as  one  of  them,  the  pres- 
ent Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  United  Provinces  of 
Agra  and  Oudh,  a  member  of  the  Indian  bureaucracy, 
remarked  only  recently  in  a  speech  at  Allahabad: 

"Nothing  will  ever  be  the  same,"  said  Sir  Harcourt 
Butler;  "this  much  is  certain,  that  we  shall  have  to 
shake  up  all  our  old  ideals  and  begin  afresh  ...  we 
have  crossed  the  watershed  and  are  looking  down  on 
new  plains.  The  old  oracles  are  dumb.  The  old 
shibboleths  are  no  more  heard.  Ideals,  constitutions, 
rooted  ideas  are  being  shovelled  away  without  argu- 
ment or  comment  or  memorial.  .  .  .  Our  administra- 
tive machine  belongs  to  another  age.  It  is  top-heavy. 
Its    movements    are    cumbrous,    slow,    deliberate.     It 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

rejoices  in  delay.  It  grew  up  when  time  was  not 
the  object,  when  no  one  wanted  change,  when  financial 
economy  was  the  ruling  passion  of  Governments, 
imperial  and  provincial.  Now  there  are  the  stirrings 
of  young  national  life,  and  economic  springtime,  a 
calling  for  despatch,  quick  response,  bold  experiment. 
Secretariats  with  enormous  offices  overhang  the 
administration.  An  eminent  ecclesiastic  once  told  me 
jthat  Rome  had,  by  centuries  of  experience,  reduced 
! delay  to  a  science;  he  used  to  think  her  mistress  of 
postponement  and  procrastination,  but  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  beat  Rome  every  time.  Only  ecclesiatics 
could  dare  so  to  speak  of  the  Government  of  India. 
I,  for  one,  will  not  lay  audacious  hands  on  the  chariot 
of  the  sun." 

Coming,  as  it  does,  from  a  member  of  the  Anglo- 
Indian  bureaucracy,  this  statement  means  much 
more  to  the  Indian  people  than  even  the  words  of  the 
British  Premier.  If  this  statement  is  not  mere  camou- 
flage, but  represents  a  genuine  change  of  heart  on  the 
part  of  the  British  bureaucracy  in  India,  then  it  is  all 
the  more  inexplicable  to  us  why  the  new  scheme  of 
the  Secretary  for  India  and  the  Viceroy  should  breathe 
so  much  distrust  of  the  educated  classes  of  India. 
Any  way,  we  have  nothing  but  praise  for  the  spirit  of 
frankness  and  fairness  which  generally  characterizes 
the  report.  However  we  might  disagree  with  the 
conclusions  arrived  at,  it  is  but  right  to  acknowledge 
that  the  analysis  of  the  problem  and  its  constituting 
elements  is  quite  masterly  and  the  attempt  to  find  a 
solution  which  will  meet  the  needs  of  the  situation 
as  understood  by  them  absolutely  sincere  and  genuine. 
This  fact  makes  it  all  the  more  necessary  that  Indian 


14  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

Nationalists  of  all  classes  and  all  shades  of  opinion 
should  give  their  best  thought  to  the  consideration 
of  the  problem  in  a  spirit  of  construction  and  coopera- 
tion, as  distinguished  from  mere  fault-finding.  Nor 
should  it  be  forgotten  for  a  moment  that  Mr.  Montagu 
and  Lord  Chelmsford  were  all  the  time,  when  drawing 
their  scheme,  influenced  by  considerations  of  what, 
under  the  circumstances,  is  practicable  and  likely  to  be 
accepted,  not  only  in  India  by  the  Anglo-Indian 
bureaucracy  and  the  non-official  European  com- 
munity, but  by  the  conservative  British  opinion  at  home. 
It  is  the  latter  we  have  to  convince  and  win  over 
before  the  scheme  has  a  ghost  of  a  chance  of  being 
improved  upon.  When  we  say  conservative  opinion 
we  include  in  that  expression  the  Liberal  and  Labour 
Imperialists  also.  We  should  never  forget  that  it  is  I 
hard  to  part  with  power,  however  idealistic  the  in-  J 
dividual  vested  with  power  may  be,  and  it  is  still  \ 
harder  to  throw  away  the  chances  of  profit  which  one  j 
(and  those  in  whom  one  is  interested)  have  gained  by  j 
efforts  extending  over  a  century  and  a  half,  and  in  the 
exercise  of  which  one  sees  no  immediate  danger.  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  hitherto  Indian  representation 
in  England  has  been  extremely  meagre,  spasmodic  and 
inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the  situation.  Outside 
England,  India's  voice  has  been  altogether  unheard. 
We  have  so  far  displayed  an  almost  unpardonable 
simplicity  in  failing  to  recognise  that  the  world  is  so 
situated  these  days  that  public  opinion  in  one  country 
sometimes  reacts  quite  effectively  on  public  opinion 
in  another.  It  is  our  duty,  therefore,  to  increase  our 
representation  in  England  and  to  keep  our  case  before 
the  world  with  fresh  energy  and  renewed  vigour,  not 


INTRODUCTORY  I 5 

in  a  spirit  of  carping  denunciation  of  the  British 
Government  of  India,  but  with  a  desire  to  educate  and 
enlist  liberal  and  right-minded  opinion  all  over  the 
world  in  our  favor.  In  the  following  pages  an  attempt 
is  made  to  examine  the  Montagu- Chelmsford  report 
in  a  spirit  of  absolute  candour  and  fairness,  with 
practical  suggestions  for  the  improvement  of  the 
scheme  in  the  light  of  Indian  and  British  criticism 
thereupon. 


II 

DEMOCRACY  IN  INDIA 

b     A  nation  that  can  sing  about  its  defeat  is 
|  a  nation  which  is  immortal. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"Serbia."  Speech  delivered  at  the 
Serbian  Lunch  (Savoy  Hotel),  August 
8,  1917. 

Before  we  take  up  the  report  of  the  Secretary  for 
India  and  the  Viceroy  we  intend  to  clear  the  ground 
by  briefly  meeting  the  almost  universal  impression  that 
prevails  in  educated  circles  in  the  West,  that  democratic 
institutions  are  foreign  to  the  genius  of  the  Asiatic 
peoples  and  have  never  been  known  in  India  before. 
The  latest  statement  to  this  effect  was  made  by  Mr. 
Reginald  Coupland  of  the  Round  Table  Quarterly,  in 
an  article  he  contributed  to  the  New  Republic  (Sep- 
tember 7,  1918)  on  "Responsible  Government  in  India." 
We  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  desire  to  go  into  the 
question  as  it  relates  to  other  Asiatic  countries,  though 
we  might  state,  in  general  terms,  that  an  impartial 
study  of  Asiatic  history  will  disclose  that  in  the  cen- 
turies preceding  the  Reformation  in  Europe,  Asia 
was  as  democratic  or  undemocratic  as  Europe.  Since 
then  democracy  has  developed  on  modern  lines  in 
Europe.  While  Asia  has  gradually  disintegrated  and 
fallen  under  foreign  domination,  Europe  has  progressed 

16 


DEMOCRACY  IN  INDIA  1 7 

towards  democracy.  As  regards  India,  however,  we 
intend  to  refer  briefly  to  what  historical  evidence  is 
available. 

Firstly,  we  wish  to  make  clear  what  we  under- 
stand by  "democracy."  There  is  no  desire  to  enter 
into  an  academic  discussion  of  the  subject  nor  to 
burden  this  book  with  quotations  from  eminent  thinkers 
and  writers.  In  our  judgment,  the  best  definition  of 
democracy  so  far  has  been  furnished  by  Abraham 
Lincoln,  viz.,  "the  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people,"  regardless  of  the  process  or 
processes  by  which  that  government  is  constituted. 
One  must,  however,  be  clear  minded  as  to  what  is 
meant  by  "the  people."  Does  the  expression  include 
all  the  people  that  inhabit  the  particular  territory  to 
which  the  expression  applies,  regardless  of  sex,  creed, 
color  and  race,  or  does  it  not?  If  it  does,  we  are  afraid 
there  is  little  democracy  even  in  Europe  and  America 
today.  Until  recently  half  of  the  population  was 
denied  all  political  power  in  the  State  by  virtue  of 
sex.  Of  the  other  half  a  substantial  part  was  denied 
that  right  by  virtue  of  economic  status  or,  to  be  more 
accurate,  by  lack  of  economic  status  considered  neces- 
sary for  the  exercise  of  political  power.  Even  now 
the  Southern  States  of  the  United  States,  Amendment 
XV  to  the  American  Constitution  notwithstanding, 
effectively  bar  the  colored  people  from  the  exercise  of 
the  franchise  supposed  to  have  been  accorded  to  them 
by  the  amendment.  In  Europe,  religious  and  social 
bars  still  exist  in  the  constitutions  of  the  different 
states.  As  Great  Britain  is  supposed  to  be  the  most 
democratic  country  in  Europe,  we  cannot  do  better 
than  take  the  history  of  the  growth  of  public  franchise 


1 8  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

in  that  country  as  the  best  illustration  of  the  growth 
of  democracy  in  the  terms  of  President  Lincoln's 
formula. 

Travelling  backwards,  the  earliest  democratic  in- 
stitutions known  to  Europe  were  those  of  Greece  and 
Rome.  In  applying  the  term  " democratic"  to  the 
city  republics  of  Greece  and  Rome  it  is  ignored  that 
these  "republics"  were  in  no  sense  democratic.  "Lib- 
erty," says  Putnam  Weale,  "as  it  was  understood  in 
those  two  celebrated  republics  of  Athens  and  Sparta 
meant  abject  slayer^  to  the  yastmass  of  the  population, 
slavery  every  whit  as  cruel  as  any  in  the  Southern 
States  of  the  American  Union  before  the  war  of  Libera- 
tion. ...  In  neither  of  these  two  republics  did  the 
freemen  ever  exceed  twenty  thousand,  whilst  the 
slaves  ran  into  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  were  used 
just  as  the  slaves  of  Asiatics  were  used.1  Thus  the 
Greek  republics  were  simply  cities  in  which  a  certain 
portion  of  the  inhabitants,  little  qualified  to  exercise 
them,  had  acquired  exclusive  privileges,  while  they 
kept  the  great  body  of  their  brethren  in  a  state  of 
abject  slavery."  2  Discussing  the  nature  of  Roman 
citizenship  Putnam  Weale  remarks  (p.  25)  that  "in 
spite  of  the  polite  fiction  of  citizenship,  the  destinies  of 
scores  of  millions  were  effectively  disposed  of  by  a 
few  thousands."  This  was  true  not  only  with  regard 
to  the  outlying  parts  of  the  Empire  but  even  as  to 

1  It  is  extremely  doubtful  if  there  were  any  slaves  in  India  in  the 
corresponding  period  of  Indian  history.  At  least,  Megasthenes, 
the  Greek  ambassador  at  the  Court  of  Chandra  Gupta,  did  not  find 
any  in  northern  India,  though  his  opinion  is  not  accepted  as  quite 
correct.  It  is  said  that  slavery  did  exist  in  a  mild  form  in  the  southern 
peninsula. 

2  The  Conflict  of  Colour,  by  Putnam  Weale,  The  Macmillan  Co., 
New  York,  1910,  pp.  20-21. 


DEMOCRACY  IN  INDIA  10/ 

Italy  itself.  "Roman  liberty,"  continues  Putnam 
Weale,  "  though  an  improvement  on  Greek  concep- 
tions, was  like  all  liberty  of  antiquity  confined  really 
1  to  those  who,  being  present  in  the  capital,  could  take 
'■  an  active  part  in  the  public  deliberations.  It  was  the 
liberty  of  city  and  not  of  a  land.  It  was  therefore 
exactly  similar  in  practise,  if  not  in  theory,  to  the  kind 
of  liberty,  which  has  always  been  understood  in  ad- 
vanced Asiatic  states  —  the  system  of  Government 
by  equipoise  and  nothing  else.  The  idea  of  giving 
those  who  lived  at  a  distance  from  the  capital  any  means 
of  representing  themselves  was  never  considered  at 
all;  and  so,  it  was  the  populace  of  the  capital  (or  only 
a  part  of  it),  aided  by  such  force  as  might  be  introduced 
by  the  contesting  generals  or  leaders,  which  held  all 
the  actual  political  power.     Representative  Government  , 

—  the  only  effective  guarantee  of  liberty  of  any  sort 

—  had  therefore  not  yet  been  dreamt  of."     [The  italics   * 
are  ours.] 

Alison  in  his  History  of  Europe,  Vol.  I,  says:  "The 
states  of  Florence,  Genoa,  VenicSicffti  Pisa  were  not  in 
reality  free ;  they  were  communities  in  which  a  few  I 
individuals  had  usurped  the  rights,  and  disposed  of 
the  fortunes,  of  the  great  bulk  of  their  fellow  citizens, 
whom  they  governed  as  subjects  or  indeed  as  slaves. 
During  the  most  flourishing  period  of  their  history, 
he  citizens  of  all  Italian  republics  did  not  amount  to 
20,000,  and  these  privileged  classes  held  as  many 
million  in  subjection.  The  citizens  of  Venice  were 
2500  and  those  of  Genoa  4500,  those  of  Pisa,  Siena, 
Lucea  and  Florence  taken  together,  not  above  6000. " 
[Italics  ours.]  Coming  to  more  modern  times  we  find 
it  stated  by  Morse  Stephens  in  his  History  of  Revolu- 


20  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

tionary  Europe  that  "the  period  which  preceded  the 
French  Revolution  and  the  era  of  war  from  the  troubles 
of  which   Modern  Europe  was   to  be  born  may  be 

(characterised  as  that  of  the  benevolent  despots.  The 
State  was  everything,  the  nation  nothing."  Speaking 
of  the  eighteenth-century  conditions  in  Europe, 
Stephens  remarks  that  "the  great  majority  of  the 
peasants  of  Europe  were  throughout  that  century 
absolute  serfs";  also  that  "the  mass  of  the  population 
of  Central  and  Eastern  Europe  was  purely  agricultural 
and  in  its  poverty  expected  naught  but  the  bare  neces- 
saries of  existence.  The  cities  and  consequently  the 
middle  classes  formed  but  an  insignificant  factor  in 
the  population."  These  quotations  reveal  the  real 
character  of  the  European  democracy  in  ancient  and 
mediaeval  and  even  in  early  modern  Europe  up  to  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  or,  to  be  more  accurate, 
to  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution.  Compare  this 
with  the  following  facts  about  the  political  institutions 
of  India,  during  the  ancient  and  mediaeval  times: 

(i)  First  we  have  the  testimony  of  ancient  Brah- 
manic  and  Buddhistic  literature,  preserved  in  their 
sacred  books,  about  the  right  of  the  people  to  elect 
their  rulers;  the  duty  of  the  rulers  to  obey  the  law 
and  their  obligation  to  consult  their  ministers  as  well 
as  the  representatives  of  the  public  in  all  important 
affairs  of  State. 

The  Vedic  literature  contains  references  to  non- 
monarchial  forms  of  Government,3  makes  mention  of 
elected  rulers  and  of  assemblies  of  people,  though  the 
normal  as  distinguished  from  universal  form  of  Govern- 

3  Public  Administration   in   Ancient  India,   by   P.   Banerjea, 
I   Macmillan,  London,  19 16,  p.  42. 


DEMOCRACY   IN   INDIA  21 

ment  according  to  Professor  Macdonald  was  by  Kings, 
"a  situation  which,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Aryan  invaders 
of  Greece  and  of  the  German  invaders  of  England, 
resulted  almost  necessarily  in  strengthening  the 
monarchic  element  of  the  constitution."  4 

In  the  Aitreya  Brahtnana  occur  terms  which  are 
translated  by  some  as  representing  the  existence  of 
"self -governed"  and  "kingless"  states.  These  author- 
ities have  been  collected,  translated  and  explained  by 
K.  P.  Tayas  Wal  and  Narendranath  Law  in  a  series 
of  articles  published  in  the  Modern  Review  of  Calcutta. 

The  Mahabharata,  the  great  Hindu  epic,  makes 
mention  of  kingless  states  or  oligarchies.  "In  fact," 
says  Mr.  Banerjea,  "all  the  Indian  nations  of  these 
times  possessed  popular  institutions  of  some  type  or 
other."  5 

Professor  Rhys  Davids  has  said,  in  his  Buddhist 
India,  that  "theTearliest  Buddhist  records  reveal  the 
survival  side  by  side  with  more  or  less  powerful  mon- 
archies, of  republics  with  either  complete  or  modified 
independence."  He  names  ten  such  republics  in 
Northern  India  alone.  In  regard  to  the  system  of 
Government  effective  within  one  of  the  tribes  that 
constituted  a  republic  of  their  own,  the  same  scholar 
observes:  "The  administrative  and  judicial  business 
of  the  clan  was  carried  out  in  public  assembly,  at 
which  young  and  old  were  alike  present  in  their  common 
Mote  Hall.  A  single  chief  —  how  and  for  what  period 
chosen  we  do  not  know  —  was  elected  an  officeholder, 
presiding  over  the  sessions,  or,  if  there  were  no 
sessions,  over  the  State.     He  bore  the  title  of  Raja, 

I    4  Vedic  India,  by  Macdonnell  &  Keith.    Vol.  II.  p.  210. 
*    5  Banerjea,  p.  43. 


22  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

which  must  have  meant  something  like  the  Roman 
Consul  or  the  Greek  Archon."  6  There  is  no  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  slaves  "of  serfs  in  these  communities. 
Evidently  all  were  freemen. 

(2)  We  have  the  evidence  of  Greek  historians  of 
the  period  who  accompanied  Alexander  in  his  Asiatic 
Campaign,  or  who,  after  Alexander's  death,  repre- 
sented Greek  monarchs  at  the  courts  of  Indian  rulers. 
"Even  as  late  as  the  date  of  Alexander's  invasion," 
says  Mr.  Banerjea,  "many  of  the  nations  of  the  Punjab 
lived  under  democratic  institutions."  Speaking  of 
one  of  them  called  Ambasthas  (Sambastai),  the  Greek 
author  of  Ancient  India  says:  "They  lived  in  cities  in 
which  the  democratic  form  of  Government  prevailed." 
"Curtius,"  adds  Mr.  Banerjea,  "mentions  a  powerful 
Indian  tribe,  where  the  form  of  Government  was 
democratic,  and  not  regal."  7  Similarly  Arrian,  another 
Greek  writer,  is  quoted  as  mentioning  several  other 
independent,  self-governing  tribal  communities  who 
lived  under  democratic  forms  of  government  and 
bravely  resisted  the  advance  of  Alexander.  One  of 
them,  when  making  submission  to  Alexander,  told 
him  J:hat  "they  were  attached  more  than  any  others 
to  freedom  and  autonomy,  and  that  their  freedom 
they  had  preserved  intact  from  the  time  Dionysos 
came  to  India  until  Alexander's  invasion."  8  There 
were  some  others  which  had  an  aristocratic  form  of 
Government.     In  one  of    them  mentioned  in  Ancient 

6  Buddhist  India,  p.  9. 

7  Ancient  India,  Alexander's  Invasion  (McCrindle,  p.  292), 
quoted  by  Mr.  Banerjea.  p.  44. 

3  Arrian,  Anabasis  (McCrindle),  p.  154;  quoted  by  Mr. 
Banerjea,  p.  154.  If  the  Greek  writers  were  familiar  with  the 
conceptions  of  democracy  and  republicanism  they  knew  what  they 
meant  by  the  use  of  these  terms  in  relation  to  Indian  institutions. 


DEMOCRACY  IN  INDIA  2$ 

India,  "the  administration  was  in  the  hands  of  three 
hundred  wise  men." 

Another  Greek  writer,  Diodoros,  speaks  of  Patala  as 
"a  City  of  great  note  with  a  political  constitution 
drawn  on  the  same  lines  as  the  Spartan."  It  may 
safely  be  presumed  that  the  Greek  meant  what  he 
said.  Chanakya,  the  author  of  a  great  treatise  on 
political  science,  mentions  many  powerful  oligarchies 
that  existed  down  to  the  fourth  century  a.  d.  In  one 
of  the  inscriptions,  said  to  be  of  the  sixth  century  a.  d., 
the  Malavas  are  referred  to  as  living  under  a  republican 
form  of  Government.9 

(3)  Even  when  kingship  became  an  established 
institution  the  idea  that  the  King  was  only  a  servant 
of  the  people  survived  for  a  long  time.  His  "  remunera- 
tion "  was  fixed  at  one-sixth  of  the  produce.  His  sub- 
jects had  the  right  to  depose  him  or  to  turn  him  out 
if  he  failed  in  his  duty.  The  authorities  on  these 
points  are  collected  by  Mr.  Banerjea  on  pp.  72  and  73 
of  his  book. 

(4)  Similarly  many  authorities  are  quoted  by  Mr. 
Banerjea  on  pp.  74  and  75  of  his  learned  work  showing 
that,  according  to  Hindu  ideals  practised  in  ancient 
times,  the  king  was  not  above  the  law.  He  was  not 
an  autocraTT"  He  "was  as  much  bound  by  the  law  as 
his  subjects.  Laws' were  not  made  by  kings.  "Legis- 
lation was  not  among  the  powers  entrusted  to  a  king," 
says  Mr.  Banerjea.  "There  is  no  reference  in  early 
Vedic  literature  to  the  exercise  of  legislative  authority 
by  the  king,  though  later  it  is  an  essential  part  of  his 
duties,"  says  Prof.  Macdonell.10 

9  Banerjea.  p.  46. 

10  Macdonell  &  Keith,  Vedic  Index,  Vol.  II,  p.  214. 


24  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

(5)  Assemblies  and  councils  are  quite  frequently 
mentioned  both  in  the  Rig  and  the  Atharva  Vedas. 
"The  popular  assembly  was  a  regular  institution  in  the 
early  years  of  the  Buddhistic  age  (500  to  300  B.C.) " 
Chanakya  mentions  that  in  the  King's  Council  the 
decision  of  the  majority  should  prevail.11  Sukraniti 
lays  down  elaborate  rules  of  procedure  for  the  conduct 
of  business  in  these  assemblies.  "The  Council  was 
the  chief  administrative  authority  in  the  kingdom. 
The  King  was  supposed  not  to  do  anything  without 
the  consent  of  the  Council."  n  In  Kerala  State,  South 
India,  during  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  the 
Christian  Era,  there  were  five  assemblies  one  of  which 
consisted  of  "representatives  of  the  people  summoned 
from  various  parts  of  the  State."  13  "From  the  Ceylon 
inscriptions  we  learn  that  in  that  island  all  measures 
were  enacted  by  the  King  in  Council,  and  all  orders 
were  issued  by  and  under  the  authority  of  the  Council." 

While  all  this  is  true  of  Ancient  India,  we  cannot 
claim  the  existence  of  the  same  system  of  Government 
for  mediaeval  India.  Even  as  regards  Ancient  India, 
all  that  is  claimed  is  that  it  possessed  as  much  dem- 
ocracy, if  not  more,  as  Ancient  Greece  or  Ancient 
Rome.  The  non-existence  of  slavery  in  Northern  I 
India  gives  it  therefore  a  superior  character  to  that  of  I 
the  Ancient  republics  of  Greece  and  Rome.  In  the 
South,  it  is  believed  slavery  did  exist.  Coming  to 
mediaeval  times  generally  known  as  the  Mohammedan 
period  of  Indian  History  consisting  of  two  epochs, 
from    400    to  1200  a.d.  and  from  1200   to  1800  a.d., 

11  Banerjea.  p.  95. 

12  Footnote,  Ibid.,  p.  96.  Original  authority  quoted  by  Mr. 
Banerjea  in  footnote  on  p.  103. 

13  Ibid.,  p.  104. 


DEMOCRACY  IN  INDIA  25 

we  notice  that  the  country  enjoyed  a  durable  kind  of 
government,  cities  under  absolute  rule,  and  villages, 
.  as  before,  self-governed.  The  absolute  rule  was  a 
'  benevolent  or  malevolent  despotism  according  to  the 
character  of  the  Hindu  or  Moslem  sovereign  who 
reigned.  But  in  the  villages  India  maintained  a 
democratic  form  of  government  right  up  to  the  begin- 
ning of  British  rule;  and  though  under  British  rule, 
it  has  been  practically  superseded  by  the  rule  of  the 
officials,  yet  in  some  parts  of  the  country  the  spirit 
is  still  alive,  as  will  appear  from  the  following  testimony 
recorded  by  Mr.  Sidney  Webb  in  his  Preface  to  Mr. 
John  Matthai's  volume,  Village  Government  in  British 
India: 

"One  able  collector  of  long  service  in  Central  India 

informed  me  that  he  had  been,  until  a  few  months 

before,    totally    unaware    that    anything    of    the    sort 

existed  in  any  of  the  villages  over  which  he  ruled. 

But  being  led  to  make  specific  inquiries  on  the  subject, 

he  had  just  discovered,  in  village  after  village,  a  distinctly 

effective  if  somewhat  shadowy,  local  organization,  in  one 

or  other  form  of  panchayat,  which  was,  in  fact,  now  and 

I  then  giving  decisions  on  matters  oj  communal  concern, 

^  adjudicating  civil  disputes,  and  even  condemning  offenders 

to    reparation    and  fine.     Such    a    Local    Government 

organization  is,   of  course,   'extra-legal,'   and  has  no 

statutory   warrant,   and,   in   the   eyes   of   the   British 

tribunals,    possesses   no   authority   whatever.     But   it 

has  gone  on  silently  existing,  possibly  for  longer  than 

the  British  Empire  itself,  and  is  still  effectively  func- 

f  tioning,  merely  by  common  consent  and  with  the  very 

j  real  sanction  of  the  local  public  opinion." 

Mr.   Matthai  has  also   made  a  similar  remark  in 
Paragraph  22  of  his  book  (Introductory). 

Village  councils  ordinarily  called  village  panchayats 


/ 


26  THE   POLITICAL   FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

have  often  been  confounded  with  caste  panchayats 
and  that  fact  has  been  emphasised  to  prove  that  these 
Indian  panchayats  were  or  are  anything  but  democratic. 
Mr.  Sidney  Webb  and  Mr.  John  Matthai  both  have 
controverted  that  position  and  upon  good  evidence. 
Says  Mr.  Webb: 

"One  suggestion  that  these  fragments  of  indigenous 
Indian  Local  Government  seem  to  afford  isuisttwe 
sometimes  tend  to  exaggerate  the  extent  to  which  the 
cleavages  of  caste  have  prevailed  over  the  community 
of  neighbourhood.  How  often  is  one  informed,  'with 
authority,'  that  the  panchayat  of  which  we  catch 
glimpses  must  be  only  a  caste  panchayat!  It  is  plain, 
on  the  evidence,  that  however  frequent  and  potent 
may  be  the  panchayat  of  a  caste,  there  have  been  and 
still  are  panchayats  of  men  of  different  castes,  exercising 
the  functions  of  a  Village.  Council  over  villagers  of 
different  castes.  How  widely  prevalent  these  may  be 
not  even  the  Government  of  India  can  yet  inform  us. 
But  if  people  would  only  look  for  traces  of  Village 
Government,  instead  of  mainly  for  evidences  of  caste 
dominance,  we  might  learn  more  on  the  subject." 

Later  on  in  the  same  paragraph  Mr.  Webb  remarks 
that,  even  where  caste  exists  it  has,  in  fact,  permitted 
a  great  deal  of  common  life,  and  that  it  is  compatible 
with  active  village  councils. 

Besides  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  texts  of 
Hindu  codes,  law  books  and  political  treatises  (like 
the  Arthasastra  of  Kautalaya),  and  Niti  Shastra,  etc., 
other  good  evidence  has  been  produced  by  Mr.  Matthai 
in  support  of  the  above-mentioned  proposition. 

In  Paragraph  23  he  refers  to  the  Madras  Epigraphic 
Report,  191 2-13,  in  support  of  the  statement  that 
"there  were  village  assemblies  in  South  India  in  the 


DEMOCRACY  IN  INDIA  27 

tenth  century  a.d.,  which  'appear  to  have  consisted 
of  all  the  residents  of  a  village  including  cultivators, 
professionals  and  merchants. '" 

"In  the  Private  Diary  oj  Anandaranga  Pillay,  who 
served  as  agent  to  Dupleix,  the  French  Governor  in 
South  India  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
there  is  an  entry  referring  to  a  village  meeting  to 
consider  a  case  of  desecrating  the  village  temple  'in 
which  people  of  all  castes  —  from  the  Brahman  to  the 
Pariah  —  took  part.'" 

In  Paragraph  24,  he  points  out  that  a  village  council 
(Panchayat)  might  either  be  an  assembly  of  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  village  or  only  a  select  committee 
consisting  of  representatives  selected  on  some  recog- 
nized principle.  The  first  are  common  among  less 
developed  communities  like  those  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes  and  the  latter  in  more  highly  organized  com- 
munities. 

Evidences  of  bigger  assemblies  consisting  of  repre- 
sentatives of  more  than  one  village,  sometimes  of 
more  than  one  district,  to  decide  cases  of  importance 
or  dispute  between  whole  villages  are  also  cited  in 
Paragraphs  26  and  27  and  32.  On  the  strength  of 
certain  South  Indian  Inscriptions  relating  to  the 
Tamil  Kingdoms  of  the  10th  century  a.d.,  it  is  stated 
that  the  administration  of  the  village  was  carried  on 
by  no  less  than  five  or  six  committees,  each  vested  with 
jurisdiction  relating  to  certain  definite  departments  of 
village  life,  though  there  was  no  fixed  rule  on  the  point. 
In  Paragraphs  33  and  34  the  mode  of  election  to  the 
committees  and  the  qualifications  for  membership  are 
set  down  in  detail.  The  procedure  seems  to  have 
been  quite  elaborate,  though  suited  to  the  level  of 


28  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

intelligence  of  the  people  concerned.  These  village 
councils  and  committees  looked  after  education, 
sanitation,  poor  relief,  public  works,  watch  and  ward, 
and  the  administration  of  justice.  To  describe  the 
methods  by  which  these  departments  of  village  life 
were  administered  by  the  village  councils  requires  too 
much  space,  but  we  give  two  excerpts  from  Chap- 
ter II  on  education: 

"The  history  of  village  education  in  India  goes 
back  perhaps  to  the  beginnings  of  the  village  com- 
munity. The  schoolmaster  had  a  definite  place 
assigned  to  him  in  the  village  economy,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  headman,  the  accountant,  the  watch- 
man, and  the  artisans.  He  was  an  officer  of  the 
village  community,  paid  either  by  rent-free  lands  or 
by  assignments  of  grain  out  of  the  village harve^tr*"*"* 

"The  outstanding  characteristics  of  the  schools  of 
the  Hindu  village  community  were:  (i)  that  they  were 
democratic,  and  (2)  that  they  were  more  secular  than 
spiritual  in  their  instruction  and  their  general  char- 
acter. .  .  .  Nevertheless,  when  we  speak  of  the 
democratic  character  of  these  early  Hindu  schools,  it 
is  to  be  understood  that  they  were  democratic  only 
in  this  sense,  that  they  were  open  not  merely  to  the 
priestly  caste  but  to  all  the  four  superior  castes  alike. 
There  was  never  any  question  of  admitting  into  the 
schools  those  who  lay  outside  the  regular  caste  system 
whose  touch  would  have  meant  pollution,  nor  to  the 
great  aboriginal  populations  of  the  country." 

"This  is  very  similar  to  the  public  schools  in  the 
Southern  States,  in  the  United  States,  where  schools  for 
the  white  children  are  closed  to  coloured  children  and 
vice  versa." 

From  what  has  been  stated  above  it  appears  that 
the  general  impression  that  democratic  institutions  are. 
entirely  foreign  to  India  is  nothing  but  the  survival  of  J 


DEMOCRACY  IN  INDIA  29 

a  prejudice  originally  due  to  ignorance  of  Indian 
history.  In  collecting  his  evidence  Mr.  Matthai  has 
principally  drawn  upon  South  Indian  sources.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  abundant  evidence  of  a  similar 
kind  is  available  as  regards  North  India  and  is  waiting 
to  be  collected,  collated  and  sifted  by  other  Matthais. 
We  do  not  contend  that  India  had  the  same  kind  of 
representative  institutions  as  Modern  Europe  has. 
In  fact  no  part  of  the  world  had.  They  are  all  recent 
developments.  The  democratic  nature  of  an  institu- 
tion does  not  depend  on  the  m^tfcofls,,^ -..dPCfcMMLfo1  *" 
on  the  people's  right  to  express  their  will,  directly,  or 
through  their  representatives,  in  the  management  of 
their  public  affairs.  It  is  clear  that  that  idea  was 
never  altogether  absent  from  Indian  life  either  in 
theory  or  in  practise.  Even  under  the  most  absolute 
autocracies,  the  bulk  of  the  people  managed  their 
collective  affairs  themselves.  They  organised  and 
maintained  schools;  arranged  and  paid  for  sanitation; 
built  public  works;  provided  for  watch  and  ward; 
administered  justice,  and  for  all  these  purposes  raised 
revenues  and  spent  them  in  a  democratic  way.  They 
did  so,  not  only  as  regards  the  internal  affairs  of  a 
village,  but  applied  the  same  principles  in  the  larger 
life  of  their  district  or  districts.     Such  a  people  cannot 

fbe  said  to  have  always  lived  a  life  dictated  and  held 
together  by  force.  Nor  can  it  be  said  with  justice 
that  the  introduction  of  modern  democratic  methods 
in  such  a  country,  among  such  a  people,  would  be  the 
introduction  of  an  exotic  plant,  with  the  spirit  and 
working  of  which  it  will  take  them  centuries  to  be 
familiar. 


Ill 

THE   PRESENT   IDEALS 

The  wishes,  the  desires,  and  the  interests 
of  the  people  of  these  countries  [speaking 
of  German  colonies]  themselves  must  be 
the  dominant  factor  in  settling  their  future 
government. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"Causes  and  Aims  of  the  War."  Speech 
delivered  at  Glasgow,  on  being  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  that  city,  June  29, 
1917. 

Every  nation  has  a  fundamental  right  to  determine, 
fix  and  work  out  her  own  ideals.  Any  interference 
with  this  right  by  individuals  or  nations  of  foreign 
origin  is  unnatural  and  unjust.  The  consent  of  the 
governed  is  the  only  logical  and  just  basis  of  govern- 
ments. These  principles  have  been  reiterated  with 
added  force  and  masterly  eloquence  by  President 
Wilson  in  his  addresses  during  the  War.  They  have 
been  accepted  and  adopted  by  the  Allied  statesmen. 
No  statesman  or  publicist  of  standing  in  any  of  the 
Allied  countries  can  dare  question  the  principles. 
The  difficulty,  however,  arises  when  we  come  to 
apply  them  practically.  At  this  point  the  practical 
politician's  genius  for  diplomacy  discovers  flaws  that 
provide    excuses    for    the    non-application    of    those 

30 


THE  PRESENT  IDEALS  3 1 

principles  if  such  course  seems  helpful  to  his  nation  or 
his  sovereign. 

President  Wilson  has  asseverated  that  "the  day  of 
conquest  and  aggrandisement  is  gone,"  which,  in  plain 
language,  means  that  the  day  of  Imperialism  is  over. 
And,  in  conformity  with  the  principle  stated  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  that  "All  nations  have 
the  right  to  assume  among  the  powers  of  the  earth  the 
separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature 
and  nature's  God  entitle  them,"  President  Wilson  has 
also  said  that  "every  people  have  a  right  to  choose  the 
sovereignty  under  which  they  shall  live";  that  "na- 
tional aspirations  must  be  respected,  and  that  'self 
determination'  is  not  a  mere  phrase;  it  is  an  imperative 
principle  of  action,  which  statesmen  will  henceforth 
ignore  at  their  peril."  Yet  as  practical  men  we  must 
not  ignore  the  facts  of  life.  The  world  is  not  at  once 
going  to  be  an  ideal  place  to  live  in  even  if  it  may 
become  one.  It  may  be  that  the  advanced  nations  of 
the  earth  which  just  now  divide  the  political  and 
economic  control  of  the  world  between  themselves 
may  accept  the  underlying  policy  of  the  following 
statement  (of  President  Wilson)  that 

"This  war  had  its  roots  in  the  disregard  of  the  rights 
of  small  nations  and  of  nationalities  which  lacked  the 
union  and  the  force  to  make  good  their  claim  to  deter- 
mine their  own  allegiance  and  their  own  forms  of 
political  life." 

and  the  proposed  League  of  Nations  might  see  that 
a  continuance  of  the  injustice  thus  far  done  to  small 
or  backward  nations  is  no  longer  permitted.  Being 
practical  men,  however,  we  cannot  build  on  the  assump- 


32  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

tion  that  at  the  end  of  this  war  the  world  is  at  once  to 
be  transformed  into  a  paradise  and  that  full  justice 
will  be  done  to  all  nations  and  all  peoples  alike.  We 
already  notice  a  tendency  to  restrict  the  application 
and  the  enforcement  of  these  principles  to  the  nations 
of  Europe  by  the  more  frequent  use  of  the  term  "free 
nations."  "Free  nations"  do  not  need  to  be  freed. 
It  will  be  wise,  therefore  not  to  be  carried  off  our  feet 
by  these  declarations  and  statements.  Mr.  Montagu 
and  Lord  Chelmsford  have  pointedly  reminded  us  of 
the  Indian  saying,  "hanoz  Delhi  Dur  Ast"  (i.e.  "Delhi 
is  yet  far  away").  But  even  if  they  had  not  done  so 
we  were  not  so  simple  as  to  be  swept  away  by  the 
mere  language  of  the  war  declarations.  The  wording 
of  the  announcement  of  August  20,  191 7,  itself  did  not 
leave  us  in  doubt  about  the  truth  of  the  saying  quoted 
by  Mr.  Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford.  We  have, 
therefore,  to  test  our  ideals  and  aspirations  by  the 
touchstone  of  practicability  and  expediency.  Happily 
for  us  there  is,  in  theory,  at  least,  a  full  agreement 
between  the  political  goal  set  up  by  the  Indian  Na- 
tionalists of  the  Congress  school  (since  endorsed  by 
the  Home  Rulers)  and  that  set  up  by  the  authors  of 
the  announcement  of  August  20th.  This  goal  is 
"  Self- Government  within  the  Empire  on  terms  of 
equality  with  the  other  parts  of  it,"  in  the  language  of 
the  Congress  school  or,  "Responsible  Government  as 
an  integral  part  of  the  British  Empire,"  in  the  language 
of  the  announcement.  There  is  a  party  of  Indian  poli- 
ticians who  want  complete  independence,  but  at  present 
their  number  is  so  limited  that  we  need  not  take 
serious  consideration  of  their  position  in  the  matter. 
The  vast  bulk  of  the   educated   classes  are  agreed: 


THE  PRESENT   IDEALS  33 

(a)  That  they  are  content  to  remain  within  the 
British  Empire  if  they  are  allowed  a  status  of 
equality  with  the  self-governing  dominions  of 
the  Empire. 

(b)  That  what  they  want  is  an  autonomous  Govern- 
ment on  the  lines  of  Canada,  Australia  and 
the  South  African  Union. 

!  (c)  That  they  do  not  want  any  affiliation  with  any' 
other  Foreign  Government. 
Much  has  been  written  and  said  about  the  loyalty 
of  the  people  of  India  to  the  British  Government. 
Opinions,  however,  differ  as  to  its  nature.  Some  say 
it  is  the  loyalty  of  a  helpless  people  or,  in  other  words, 
a  loyalty  dictated  by-fear  orTbrce."  Others  say  it  is 
the  loyalty  of  opportunism.  The  British  maintain 
that  the  loyalty  is  the  outcome  of  a  genuine  and 
sincere  appreciation  of  the  blessings  of  the  British 
Empire.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  in  the  interest  of 
both  to  bring  about  circumstances  and  conditions 
which  would  transform  this  loyalty  whatever  its  nature 
into  one  of  genuine  affection  and  interest.  The 
announcement  of  August  20,  191 7,  may  be  considered 
as  a  first  step  towards  the  creation  of  such  loyalty, 
but  much  will  depend  on  the  steps  that  are  taken  to 
give  practical  effect  to  the  policy  embodied  in  the 
said  announcement  and  on  the  spirit  in  which  the? 
proposed  reforms  are  carried  out.  Mr.  Montagu  and 
!  Lord  Chelmsford's  conception  of  the  "  eventual  future 
of  India  is  a  sisterhood  of  states,  self-governing  in  all 
matters  of  purely  local  or  provincial  interest,  in  some 
cases  corresponding  to  existing  provinces,  in  others 
perhaps  modified  in  area  according  to  the  character 
and   economic   interests   of   their  people.     Over   this 


34  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

congeries  of  States  should  preside  a  Central  Govern- 
ment increasingly  representative  of  and  responsible 
to  the  people  of  all  of  them;  dealing  with  matters, 
both  internal  and  external,  of  common  interest  to  the 
whole  of  India;  acting  as  arbiter  in  interstate  relations 
and  representing  the  interests  of  all  India  on  equal 
terms  with  the  self-governing  units  of  the  British 
Empire."  l  The  only  changes  that  we  would  propose 
in  the  language  of  this  statement  are  (i)  the  omission 
of  the  word  "  increasingly  "  which  is  rather  misplaced 
in  the  conception  of  an  ideal,  and  (ii)  the  substitution 
of  the  word  "Commonwealth"  in  place  of  " Empire." 
His  Highness  the  Aga  Khan  considers  the  use  of  the 
term  "responsible"  government  instead  of  "self- 
government"  in  the  announcement  as  unfortunate 
because  it  carries  the  technical  meaning  of  a  govern- 
ment responsible  for  its  existence  to  an  assembly 
elected  by  the  people.  On  the  other  hand,  self-govern- 
ment can  comprise  many  and  varied  forms  of  expression 
of  the  popular  will.  Further,  he  is  convinced  that  the 
words  "responsible  government"  were  used  in  order  to 
carry  with  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  Prime 
Minister  some  more  conservative  members  of  the 
small  war  cabinet.  It  was  camouflaged  so  that  the 
Executive  government  hereafter  might  contain  English- 
men, while  at  the  same  time  the  administration  became 
sufficiently  liberal  to  be  responsible  to  the  people. 
With  due  respect  to  the  Aga  Khan  we  do  not  see  the 
logical  connection  between  the  two.  Responsible 
government  may  or  may  not  involve  the  necessary 
inclusion  of  Englishmen  in  the  Cabinet.  Althougl 
we  may  not  approve  of  the  interpretation  of  th< 
1  Paragraph  349  of  the  Report. 


THE  PRESENT   IDEALS  35 

expression  "responsible"  government  given  to  it  by 
the  authors  of  the  report,  in  our  judgment  its  use  as 
an  ideal  to  be  attained  expresses  more  forcibly  the 
right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  government  than 
the  use  of  the  general  term  "self  government "  would. 


IV 

t 

THE   STAGES 

There  is  no  protection  for  life,  property, 
or  money  in  a  State  where  the  criminal  is 
more  powerful  than  the  law.  The  law  of 
nations  is  no  exception,  and,  until  it  has 
been  vindicated,  the  peace  of  the  world  will 
always  be  at  the  mercy  of  any  nation  whose 
professors  have  assiduously  taught  it  to  be- 
lieve that  no  crime  is  wrong  so  long  as  it 
leads  to  the  aggrandisement  and  enrichment 
of  the  country  to  which  they  owe  allegiance. 
David  Lloyd  George 

"No  Halfway  House."     Speech  delivered 
at  Gray's  Inn,  December  14,  191 7. 

In  the  chapter  on  ideals  we  have  shown  that  there 
is  almost  complete  agreement  between  the  bulk  of 
Indian  educated  men  and  the  British  authorities  as 
to  the  immediate  goal  of  Government  in  India.  There 
is  no  such  agreement,  however,  as  regards  the  stages 
by  which  that  goal  is  to  be  reached,  nor  on  the  steps 
which  should  be  immediately  taken  to  carry  us  to  the 
first  stage.  The  four  formulas  by  which  Mr.  Montagu 
and  Lord  Chelmsford  profess  to  be  guided  in  their 
recommendations  are  not  accepted  in  their  entirety  by 
the  spokesmen  of  the  Indian  people.  These  formulas 
are: 

36 


THE   STAGES  37 

(i)  There  should  be  as  far  as  possible  complete 
popular  control  in  local  bodies  and  the  largest  possible 
independence  for  them  of  outside  control.  (Paragraph 
188.) 

(2)  The  provinces  are  the .  domain  in  which  the 
earlier  steps  towards  the  progressive  realization  of 
responsible  government  should  be  taken.  Some  meas- 
ure of  responsibility  should  be  given  at  once,  and  our 
aim  is  to  give  complete  responsibility  as  soon  as  con- 
ditions permit.  This  involves  at  once  giving  the 
provinces  the  largest  measure  of  independence,  legisla- 
tive, administrative,  and  financial,  of  the  Government 
of  India  which  is  compatible  with  the  due  discharge 
by  the  latter  of  its  own  responsibilities.     (Paragraph 

189.) 

(3)  The  Government  of  India  must  remain  wholly 
responsible  to  Parliament,  and  saving  such  responsi- 
bility, its  authority  in  essential  matters  must  remain 
indisputable  pending  experience  of  the  effect  of  the 
changes  now  to  be  introduced  in  the  provinces.  In 
the  meantime  the  Indian  Legislative  Council  should  be 
enlarged  and  made  more  representative  and  its  oppor- 
tunities of  influencing  government  increased.  (Para- 
graph 190.) 

(4)  In  proportion  as  the  foregoing  changes  take 
effect,  the  control  of  Parliament  and  the  Secretary  of 
State  over  the  Government  of  India  and  provincial 
Governments  must  be  relaxed.     (Paragraph  191.) 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  accepting  the  first  and  the 
fourth  formulas.  There  is  some  complaint  that  the 
actual  steps  recommended  for  immediate  adoption  to 
give  effect  to  the  policy  of  the  first  formula  are  not  in 
keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  formula  and  are  inade- 
quate.    But  this  we  can  reserve  for  future  consideration. 

No  objection  can  be  taken  to  the  first  and  the  last 
sentences  of  the  second  formula;  though  there  is  a 
great  divergence  of  opinion  as  regards  the  content  of 


38  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

the  second.  It  is  maintained  by  some,  and  their 
number  is  by  no  means  small,1  that  full  responsibility 
should  be  conceded  to  the  provinces  at  once  and  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  conditions  mentioned  in  the 
report  which  justifies  the  postponement  thereof. 

The  third  formula,  however,  is  the  one  about  which 
there  is  not  even  a  semblance  of  agreement.  All 
political  parties  and  all  qualified  persons  in  India  (we 
mean,  of  course,  Indians  of  Indian  origin)  are  agreed 
that  the  assumptions  and  presumptions  upon  which 
this  formula  is  based  are  wrong  and  unacceptable. 
Native  Indian  opinion  is  fairly  unanimous  on  the  point. 

There  are  some  who  claim  full  autonomy  at  once. 
There  are  others  who  claim  full  autonomy  except  as 
regards  foreign  relations,  the  control  of  native  States, 
the  Army  and  the  Navy.  All  insist  that  a  beginning 
of  responsible  Government  must  be  made  in  the 
Central  Government  also,  and  point  out  the  absolute 
necessity  of  conceding  some  measure,  even  if  not  full, 
of  fiscal  autonomy.  They  can  see  no  reason  why 
"the  Government  of  India  must  remain  wholly  re- 
sponsible to  Parliament "  and  why  "its  authority  must 
remain  indisputable."  On  these  matters  Indian 
opinion  joins  issue  with  the  distinguished  authors  of 
the  report.  We  will  revert  to  the  subject  in  another 
chapter. 

1  The  non-official  members  of  Bengal,  Bombay  and  the  United 
Provinces  have  made  that  demand,  which  has  been  endorsed  by  the 
Indian  National  Congress  and  the  All-Indian  Muslim  League. 


V 

THE   CONDITIONS   OF   THE   PROBLEM 

Let  us,  at  any  rate,  make  victory  so  com- 
plete that  national  liberty,  whether  for  great 
nations  or  for"^lgnialT  nations,  can  never  be 
challenged.  That  is  the  ordinary  law.  The 
small  man,  the  poor  man,  has  the  same 
protection  as  the  powerful  man.  So  the 
little  nation  must  be  as  well  guarded  and 
protected  as  the  big  nation. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"The  Pan-German  Dream."  Speech 
delivered  at  Queen's  Hall  on  the  third 
anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  War, 
August  4,  191 7. 

The  eminent  authors  of  the  report  have  devoted  an 
entire  chapter  to  a  consideration  of  what  they  call  the 
" conditions  of  the  problem."  These  may  be  con- 
sidered under  two  different  heads:  (a)  those  that 
necessitate  a  rather  radical  reorganisation  of  the 
Government  of  India;  (b)  those*""that  prevent  the 
authors  from  recommending  immediate  responsible 
government  and  justify  the  limitations  of  their  scheme. 

IMMENSITY   OF   THE   PROBLEM   AND   THE   GRAVITY 
OF    THE    TASK 

Before  we  take  up  the  two  sets  of  facts  relied  upon  by 
them  in  support  of  either  position  we  may  express  our 

39 


40  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

general  agreement  with  them  as  regards  the  gravity  of 
the  task  and  the  immensity  of  the  problem.  The  size 
of  the  country  and  the  vastness  of  its  population  are 
the  measure  of  the  extent  of  the  problem.  The  ex- 
istence of  powerful  vested  interests  at  present  possessed 
by  the  ruling  race  which  may  be  interfered  with  by 
extended  changes  in  the  system  of  Government  are 
the  measure  of  its  gravity.  "The  welfare  and  happi- 
ness of  hundredsof  millions  of  people,"  which  the 
authors  say  are  in  issue  cannot  be  adequately  provided 
for  by  any  autocratic  system  of  Government  however 
benevolent  its  purpose,  and  however  magnificent  its 
organisation.  An  "absolute  government"  is  an  ana- 
chj^nism,  but  when  it  is  foreign  it  is  doubly  so.  TPcT 
bring  out  "the  best  in  the  people"  for  their  own 
"welfare  and  happiness"  as  well  as  for  that  of  mankind 
in  general,  it  is  necessary  that  the  people  should  be 
free  to  develop  on  their  own  lines,  manage  their  own 
affairs,  evolve  their  own  life,  subject  only  to  such 
restrictions  as  the  general  interests  of  humanity 
demand;  and  subject  to  such  guidance  as  the  better 
placed  and  more  experienced  people  of  the  earth  can 
furnish. 

The  people  of  India  are  willing  to  be  guided  in  their 
development  towards  modern  democracy  by  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  and  they  would  be  grateful  for  their 
cooperation  in  this  difficult  task,  but  they  must  be 
made  to  realize  that  the  task  is  their  own  and  that 
they  should  undertake  it  in  a  spirit  of  courageous 
faith  —  faith  in  their  destiny,  faith  in  their  ability  to 
achieve  it,  and  faith  in  the  friendship  of  the  great 
British  nation.  The  test  of  all  measures  in  relation 
to  the  Government  of  India  in  future  should  be,  not 


THE  CONDITIONS   OF  THE  PROBLEMS  4 1 

how  far  the  people  of  India  can  cooperate,  how  far 
they  can  be  entrusted  with  responsibility,  but  how 

ffar  it  is  necessary  in  their  interests  to  control  and  check 
them.  The  difference  between  the  two  points  of  view 
is  fundamental  and  important.  Mr.  Montagu  and 
Lord  Chelmsford  have  looked  at  the  problem  from  the 
former  point  of  view;  the  Indian  leaders  want  them 
to  look  at  it  from  the  latter.  They  want  the  great 
British  nation  to  recognise  the  justice  of  India's  claim 
to  manage  her  own  affairs,  and  to  keep  in  their  hands 
in  future  only  such  control  as  is  absolutely  necessary 
(a)  to  enable  the  Indian  people  to  conduct  their  busi- 
ness efficiently  and  successfully,  (b)  to  make  them 
fulfill  their  obligations  to  the  great  Commonwealth 
of  nations  of  which  they  hope  soon  to  be  a  component 
part.  As  long  as  British  statesmen  insist  on  looking 
at  the  problem  from  the  former  point  of  view,  they 
will  make  mistakes  and  raise  a  not  entirely  unreason- 
able suspicion  of  their  motives.  The  moment  they 
adopt  the  other  point  of  view,  they  remove  all  grounds 
.  of  distrust  and  create  an  atmosphere  of  friendliness  in 
which  they  can  deal  with  the  problem  in  a  spirit  of 
mutual  trust,  absolute  frankness  and  candid  per- 
spicacity. There  are  many  contentions  of  the  British 
■  statesmen  which  the  educated  Indians  would  gladly 
I  admit  to  be  valid  and  necessary  were  they  sure  that 
I  tHeir  admission  would  not  be  used  against  them  by 
I  the  power  whom  they  habitually  regard  as  their  ad- 
versary. There  is  much  in  this  report  which  could 
at  once  be  struck  out  if  both  parties  were  actuated  by 
feelings  of  mutual  trust  and  friendliness.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  many  of  the  proposed  restrictions  on 
the  power  of  the  popular  assemblies  and  the  would-be 


42  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

Indian  Administrators  are  the  outcome  of  distrust. 
It  is  no  wonder  then  that  the  Indian  leaders  in  their 
turn  are  not  quite  sure  of  the  face  value  of  the  many 
professions  of  good  will  that  characterise  the  scheme. 
It  is  for  the  removal  of  this  distrust  that  we  appeal  as 
earnestly  as  we  can  to  the  better  mind  of  Great  Britain. 

In  looking  at  the  conditions  of  the  problem,  there  is 
another  fallacy  which  underlies  the  oft-exaggerated 
estimates  of  the  blessings  of  British  rule  in  India  by 
British  statesmen  and  British  publicists.  They  com- 
pare the  India  of  today  with  the  India  of  1757  and  at 
once  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  "the  moral  and 
material  civilisation  of  the  Indian  people  has  made 
more  progress  in  the  last  fifty  years  than  during  all 
the  preceding  centuries  of  their  history."  The  proper 
comparison  is  of  the  Great  Britain,  the  France,  the 
United  States,  the  Germany,  the  Italy  and  the  Japan 
of  1757,  with  the  India  of  that  year  and  of  India's 
progress  within  the  last  century  and  a  half,  or  even 
within  the  last  50  years,  with  the  progress  of  these 
countries  in  the  same  period.  We  have  no  desire  to 
withhold  credit  for  what  Great  Britain  has  done 
in  India,  but  what  she  has  misdone  or  could  have 
done  but  failed  to  do,  by  virtue  of  her  rule  in  India 
being  absolute  and  thus  necessarily  conditioned  by 
limitations  inevitable  in  a  system  of  absolute  rule, 
should  not  be  forgotten. 

The  Indian  critics  of  British  rule  in  India  have 
repeatedly  pointed  out  that  what  they  condemned 
and  criticised  was  the  system  and  not  the  personnel  of 
the  Government,  and  the  distinguished  authors  of  the 
Report  "very  frankly  recognise  that  the  character  of  \ 
political  institutions  reacts  upon  the  character  of  the  I 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS        43 

people"  and  that  the  exercise  of  responsibilities  calls 
forth capacity  for  it  (Paragraph  130),  which  mainly 
accounts  for  the  conditions  that  serve  as  reasons  for 
withholding  responsible  government  from  the  Indian 
people.  In  discussing  "the  basis  of  responsibility" 
Mr.  Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford  very  properly 
point  out  that  the  qualities  necessary  for  it  are  only 

1  developed  by  exercise  and  that  though  "they  are 
greatly  affected  by  education,  occupation  and  social 
^organisation"  " they  ultimately  rest  on  the  traditions 
and  habits  of  the  people."  "  We_cannot  go  simply  to  t 
statistics  for  the  measure  of  these  things."  Yet,  un-l 
fortunately,  it  is  exactly  these  statistics  that  seem  to 
have  influenced  them  largely  in  the  framing  of  their 
half-hearted  measures.  The  two  dominating  condi- 
tions which  obsess  them  are  (1)  that  the  immense 
masses  of  the  people  are  poor,  ignorant  and  helpless 
far  beyond  the  standards  of  Europe;  and  (2)  that 
there  runs  through  Indian  society  a  series  of  cleavages 
—  of  religion,  race  and  caste  —  which  constantly 
threaten  its  solidarity. 

!We  admit  the  existence  of  these  conditions,  but  we 
do  not  admit  that  they  are  an  effective  bar  to  the 
■  beginnings  of  responsible  government  even  on  that 
scale  on  which  European  countries  had  it  when  the 
conditions  of  life  in  those  countries  were  no  better 
than  they  are  now  in  India. 

It  is  said  that  226  of  244  millions  of  people  in  British 

India  live  a  rural  life:    "agriculture  is  the  one  great 

occupation   of   the   people"   and   "the   proportion   of 

\  these  who  even  give  a  thought  to  matters  beyond  the 

\  horizon  of  their  villages  is  very  small."     We  ask  did 

not  similar  conditions  exist  in  Great  Britain,  France 


44  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

and  Germany  before  the  inauguration  of  the  Industrial 
Revolution,  and  if  they  did,  did  they  stand  in  the  way 
of  their  people  getting  responsible  government  or 
parliamentary  institutions?  Everyone  knows  what 
the  conditions  in  France  were  in  years  immediately 
preceding  the  Revolution.  Italy  was  no  better  off 
in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Perhaps  it 
is  not  much  better  even  today.  The  masses  of  the 
people  in  these  and  other  countries  of  Europe,  including 
Great  Britain,  were  far  more  ignorant,  poor  and 
helpless  when  these  countries  obtained  parliamentary 
government  than  they  are  in  India  today.  And  the 
authors  of  the  report  are  not  unaware  that  similar 
concerns  are  perhaps  the  main  interests  of  the  popula- 
tion of  some  country  districts  in  the  United  Kingdom 
even  "today.  In  several  of  the  Balkan  States,  Rou- 
mania,  Serbia  and  Bulgaria  —  in  Italy  and  in  the 
component  parts  of  Russia  —  the  conditions  are  no 
better,  yet  their  right  to  autonomous  government, 
nay,  even  to  absolute  independence,  is  hardly  ques- 
tioned. Moreover,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  Mr. 
Sidney  Webb, 

"It  is  a  mistake  to  assume  that  a  land  of  villages 
necessarily  means  what  is  usually  implied  by  the 
phrase,  a  people  of  villagers.  In  truth,  India,  for  all 
its  villages,  has  been  also,  at  all  known  periods,  and 
to-day  still  is,  perhaps,  to  a  greater  extent  than  ever 
before,  what  Anglo-Saxon  England,  for  instance  was 
not  or  the  South  African  Republic  in  the  days  before 
gold  had  been  discovered,  and  what  the  Balkan 
peninsula  even  at  the  present  time  may  perhaps  not 
be,  namely  a  land  of  flourishing  cities,  of  a  distinctly 
urban  civilization,  exhibiting  not  only  splendid  archi- 
tecture, and  the  high  development  of  the  manufactur- 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS        45 

ing  arts  made  possible  by  the  concentration  of  popula- 
tion and  wealth,  but  likewise  —  what  is  much  more 
important  —  a  secretion  of  thought,  an  accumulation 
of  knowledge,  and  a  development  of  literature  and 
philosophy  which  are  not  in  the  least  like  the  char- 
acteristic products  of  villages  as  we  know  them  in 
Europe  or  America.  And  to-day,  although  the  teeming 
crowds  who  throng  the  narrow  lanes  of  Calcutta  or 
Benares,  Bombay  or  Poona,  Madras  or  Hyderabad, 
or  even  the  millions  who  temporarily  swarm  at  Hardwar 
or  Allahabad  or  Puri  may  include  only  aT  small  per- 
centage of  the  whole  population,  yet  the  Indian  social 
order  does  not  seem  to  be,  in  the  European  under- 
standing of  the  phrase,  either  on  its  good  or  on  its  bad 
side,  essentially  one  of  the  villagers.  The  distinction 
may  be  of  importance,  because  the  Local  Government 
developed  by  peoples  of  villages,  as  we  know  of  them 
in  Anglo-Saxon  England,  in  the  early  days  of  the 
South  African  Republic,  and  in  the  Balkan  States,  is 
of  a  very  different  type  from  that  which  takes  root  and 
develops,  even  in  the  villages,  in  those  nations  which 
have  also  a  City  life,  centers  of  religious  activity, 
colleges  and  universities,  and  other  'nodal  points,' 
from  which  emanate,  through  popular  literature,  pil- 
grimages, and  the  newspaper  press,  slow  but  far- 
spreading  waves  of  thought  and  feeling,  and  aspirations 
which  it  is  fatal  to  ignore."  l 

We  have  also  quoted,  in  the  chapter  on  "  Democracy 
in  India,"  the  statement  of  Morse  Stephens,  about 
the  condition  of  the  people  of  Europe  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 

EDUCATIONAL   BACKWARDNESS 

"The  Educational  returns,"  remark  the  authors  of 
the  Report,  "tell  us  much  the  same  story,"  viz.,  the 

1  Village  Government  in  British  India,  by  John  Matthai.  Preface 
by  Sidney  Webb,  p.  xv. 


46  THE   POLITICAL   FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

appalling  dissimilarity  of  conditions  in  Europe  and  in 
India.  While  it  is  painfully  true  that  the  percentage 
of  illiteracy  in  India  is  greater  than  in  any  of  the 
countries  of  Europe,  we  cannot  admit  that  that  fact  is 

!a  fatal  bar  to  the  beginnings  of  responsible  government 
in  India  or  to  the  granting  of  a  democratic  constitution 
to  the  country.  Literacy  is,  no  doubt,  a  convenient,* 
but  by  no  means  a  sure  index  of  the  intelligence  of  the 
people,  even  much  less'  of  their  character.  The  political 
status  of  a  country  is  determined  more  by  intelligence 
and  character  than  by  literacy.  In  these  the  people 
of  India  are  inferior  to  none.  By  that  we  do  not 
mean  that  they  are  possessed  of  the  same  kind  of 
political  responsibility  as  the  people  of  the  United 
Kingdom  or  of  France  or  of  Germany  or  of  the  United 
States,  but  only  that  by  intelligence  and  character 
they  are  quite  fitted  to  start  on  the  road  to  responsible 
government,  at  least  to  such  kind  as  was  conceded 
for  the  first  time  to  Canada,  Australia,  Italy,  „  the 
Balkan  States,  Austria,  Hungary,  etc.  The  illiteracy 
of  the  masses  may  be  a  good  reason  for  not  introducing 
universal  suffrage,  but  it  is  hardly  a  valid  reason  for 
refusing  a  kind  of  constitution  which  may  place  India 
in  the  same  position,  in  the  matter  of  responsible 
Government,  as  Great  Britain,  France,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Italy  and  the  United  States  were  when 
those  countries  showed  the  same  percentage  of  illiteracy. 

i  Literacy  has  nowhere  been  the  test  of  political  power. 
Burma  had  almost  no  illiteracy  when  the  British  took 
possession  of  it;  its  population  was  absolutely  homo- 
geneous and  the  solidarity  of  the  nation  ran  no  risk 
from  ''cleavages  of  religion,  race  and  caste."  Even 
today  Burma  has  the  highest  figures  of  literacy  in  the 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS        47 

whole  of  British  India.  In  that  respect  it  occupies  a 
higher  position  than  Roumania,  Bulgaria,  Serbia, 
Greece,  many  of  the  Russian  States  and  perhaps  even 
Italy  and  Hungary  and  possibly  some  of  the  South 
American  Republics.  In  the  matter  of  race  and  religion, 
too,  its  position  is  better  than  that  of  the  countries  men- 
tioned, yet  the  authors  of  the  Report  do  not  propose  to 
concede  to  it  even  such  beginnings  of  responsible  gov- 
ernment as  they  are  prepared  to  grant  to  the  other 
provinces  of  India.  The  fact  is  that  mere  literacy 
does  not  play  an  important  part  in  the  awakening  of 
political  consciousness  in  a  people.  It  is  a  useful 
ingredient  of  character  required  for  the  exercise  of 
political  power  but  by  no  means  essential. 

POVERTY 

The  argument  based  on  poverty  is  of  still  less  force. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  best  reason  why  the  people 
of  India  should  have  the  power  to  determine  and 
carry  out  their  fiscal  policy.  We  hope  the  admissions 
made  in  Paragraph  135  of  the  Report  which  we  bodily 
reproduce  2  will  once  for  all  dispose  of  the  silly  state- 
ment, so  often  repeated  even  by  men  who  ought  to  } 
know  better,   that  materially  India  has  been  highly 

2  "The  Indian  Government  compiles  no  statistics  showing  the 
distribution  of  wealth,  but  such  incomplete  figures  as  we  have 
obtained  show  that  the  number  of  persons  enjoying  a  substantial 
income  is  very  small.  In  one  province  the  total  number  of  persons 
who  enjoy  an  income  of  £66  a  year  derived  from  other  sources 
than  land  is  30,000;  in  another  province  20,000.  The  revenue 
and  rent  returns  also  show  how  small  the  average  agricultural  hold- 
ing is.  According  to  one  estimate,  the  number  of  landlords  whose 
income  derived  from  their  proprietary  holdings  exceeds  £20  a  year 
in  the  United  Provinces  is  about  126,000,  out  of  a  population  of 
forty-eight  millions.  It  is  evident  that  the  curve  of  wealth  descends 
very  steeply,  and  that  enormous  masses  of  the  population  have  little 
to  spare  for  more  than  the  necessaries  of  life." 


48  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

prosperous  under  British  rule.  If  so,  how  is  it  that  in 
the  language  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India  and 
the  Viceroy  "enormous  masses  of  the  population  have 
little  to  spare  for  more  than  the  necessaries  of  life"? 
What  about  the  prosperity  of  a  province,  one  of  the 
biggest  in  India  (the  United  Provinces),  in  which  the 
number  of  landlords  (not  tenants  and  farmers)  whose 
income  derived  from  their  proprietary  holdings  exceeds 
£20  ($100  a  year,  which  comes  to  30  cents  a  day  for 
the  whole  family),  is  about  126,000  out  of  a  population 
of  48  millions! 

Acceptance  of  the  argument  of  poverty  as  sufficient 
to  deprive  people  of  political  right  is  putting  a  premium 
on  it  which  is  hardly  creditable  to  the  political  ethics 
of  the  twentieth  century.  It  is  the  poorest  and  the 
most  ignorant  in  the  community  who  most  egregiously  J 
suffer  at  the  hands  of  autocracy.  It  is  they  who 
require  protection  from  it.  The  wealthy  and  the 
educated  know  how  to  pljkQ&te  the  bureaucrat  and 
get  what  they  want.  It  is  the  poor  who  pay  the 
penalty  of  political  helplessness,  yet,  curiously,  it  is 
for  them  and  in  their  interest  that  the  English  Govern- 
ment in  India  proposes  to  withhold  the  power  of  the 
purse  from  the  proposed  Indian  Councils  and  insists 
on  denying  the  Indian  people  even  the  elements  of  | 
responsible  government.  While  we  admit  the  general 
justice  and  accuracy  of  the  observations  made  under 
the  head  of  "  extent  of  interest  in  political  questions," 
"political  capacity  of  the  rural  population,"  we  fail 
to  see  anything  in  them  which  justifies  the  conclusion 
that  the  interests  of  the  classes  not  politically  minded 
will  be  safer  in  the  hands  of  the  British  officer,  and  on 
the  whole  better  protected  by  him  than  by  his  educated 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS        49 

countrymen  who  are  likely  to  get  the  power  in  case  of 
responsible  government  being  conceded  now.  In  our 
judgment  no  greater  argument  for  the  immediate 
grant  of  a  substantial  step  in  the  direction  of  complete 
responsible  government  throughout  India  and  in  all 
spheres  of  government,  could  be  advanced  than  what 
is  involved  in  the  following  observation  of  the  authors 
of  the  joint  Report: 

"The  rural  classes  have  the  greatest  stake  in  the 
country  because  they  contribute  most  to  its  revenues; 
but  they  are  poorly  equipped  for  politics  and  do  not 
at  present  wish  to  take  part  in  them.  Among  them  are 
a  few  great  landlords  and  a  larger  number  of  yeoman 
farmers.  They  are  not  ill-fitted  to  play  a  part  in  affairs, 
but  with  few  exceptions  they  have  not  yet  done  so. 
But  what  is  perhaps  more  important  to  appreciate 
than  the  mere  content  of  political  life  in  India  is  its 
rate  of  growth.  No  one  who  has  observed  Indian  life 
during  even  the  past  five  years  can  doubt  that  the 
growth  is  rapid  and  is  real.  It  is  beginning  to  affect 
the  large  landholders:  here  and  there  are  signs  of  its 
beginning  to  affect  even  the  villages.  But  recent 
events,  and  above  all  the  war,  have  given  it  a  new 
earnestness  and  a  more  practical  character.  Men  are 
coming  to  realise  more  clearly  that  India's  political 
future  is  not  to  be  won  merely  by  fine  phrases:  and 
that  it  depends  on  the  capacity  of  her  people  them- 
selves to  face  difficulties  and  to  dispose  of  them. 
Hence  comes  the  demand  for  compulsory  education, 
for  industries, -for^tariffs,  for  social  reform,  for  social, 
public  and  even  military  service." 

In  the  next  paragraph,  the  authors  approvingly 
give  an  extract  from  an  official  report  in  which  it  is 
frankly  admitted  that  the  rural  population  "may  not 
be  vocal,  but  they  are  certainly  not  voiceless."  The 
last  meeting  of  the  Indian  Congress  was  attended  by 


50  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

700  farmer  delegates.  Thousands  of  farmers  have 
joined  the  Home  Rule  Leagues.  The  statement  that 
"hitherto  they  have  regarded  the  official  as  their 
representative  in  the  Councils  of  the  Government"  is 
entirely  devoid  of  any  truth.  In  their  eyes  the  official 
is  the  Government  itself.  Some  of  them  may  think 
that  the  official  represents  the  Government,  but  to  say 
that  they  regard  the  official  as  "  their  representative  in 
the  Councils  of  the  Government"  is  a  mere  travesty 
of  truth.  The  paragraph  on  the  "  interests  of  the 
ryot"  bristles  with  so  many  unwarranted  assumptions 
that  we  must  enter  an  emphatic  protest  against  its  J 
misleading  nature. 

But  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  accord  our  whole- 
hearted support  to  the  following  statement  with 
which  the  paragraph  opens: 

"It  is  just  because  the  Indian  ryot  is  inarticulate 
and  has  not  been  directly  represented  in  our  delibera- 
tions that  we  feel  bound  to  emphasise  the  great  claim 
he  has  upon  our  consideration.  The  figure  of  the 
individual  cultivator  does  not  often  catch  the  eye 
of  the  Governments  in  Simla  and  Whitehall.  It  is 
chiefly  in  the  mass  that  they  deal  with  him,  as  a  con- 
sumer of  salt  or  of  piece-goods,  or  unhappily  too  often 
as  the  victim  of  scarcity  or  disease." 

It  is  true  that  "the  district  officer  and  his  lieu- 
tenants" are  in  a  position  to  know  the  difficulties  that 
beset  the  ryot  and  his  very  human  needs.  But  of 
what  good  is  this  knowledge  of  the  district  officer  and 
his  lieutenants  to  him  if  it  has  neither  provided  for 
the  education  of  his  children  nor  made  any  provision 
I  for  his  employment  in  occupations  other  than  agricul- 
v  ture;    nor  saved  him  from  the  intricacies  of  the  law; 


THE  CONDITIONS   OF  THE  PROBLEMS  5 1 

nor  protected  him  from  the  ubiquitou^salt  tax;  nor 
raised  his  wages  proportionately  to  the  increase  of 
prices;  nor  yet  put  him  in  a  position  to  assert  his 
human  rights  and  to  obtain  redress  for  his  human,  too 
human,  wrongs.  If  we  examine  a  little  more  carefully 
the  merits  of  what  is  claimed  to  have  been  done  for 
him  so  far  by  "an  official  Government,"  we  will  find 
that  the  claim  is  by  no  means  established. 

We  have  no  desire  to  deny  that  among  the  foreign 
/  officers  of  the  British  Government  in  India  there  are 
!  and  have  been  a  great  many  who  were  genuinely 
anxious  to  help  the  ryot  and  do  all  which  is  claimed  to 
have  been  done  for  him  in  this  paragraph,  but  that 
they  have  been  unable  to  do  anything  worth  men- 
tioning will  be  admitted  by  every  right-minded  official.3 
The  reasons  for  their  failure  were  not  of  their  making. 
The  laws  of  the  land  made  by  the  British  legislators 
fresh  from4^,J^s  j)|jCourt,  the  spirit  of  the  admin- 
istration and  the  system  of  land  taxation  have  effec- 
tively prevented  them  from  doing  many  of  the  things 
which  they  might  otherwise  have  liked  to  do.  We 
are  sorry  that  the  eminent  statesmen  responsible  for 
the  report  should  have  been  the  unconscious  instru- 
ments of  producing  an  entirely  wrong  impression  by 
the  statements  in  this  paragraph.  If  the  statements 
are  true,  India  must  be  a  veritable  paradise  and  the  lot 
of  the  Indian  ryot  enviable.  But  we  know,  and  the 
authors  of  the  Report  knew  it  as  well,  and  they  have 
stated  in  so  many  words  that  it  is  not  so.  We  can 
quote  any  number  of  authorities  to  show  that  the 
Indian  ryot  is  the  most  pitiable  figure  in  the  whole 

3  See  Punjab  in  Peace  and  War,  by  S.  S.  Thorborn,  London, 
1904. 


52  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

length  and  breadth  of  India,  if  not  in  the  whole  world. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  quote  the  easily  accessible 
opinions  of  eminently  qualified  and  highly  trustworthy 
British  writers  and  adminstrators  on  the  subject.4 
The  English  official  Government  has  no  doubt  professed 
to  do  all  it  claims  to  have  done  for  the  ryot,  but  how 
far  it  has  benefited  him  in  these  directions  is  another 
story.  To  ask  credit  for  having  provided  him  with  a 
system  of  law  "  simple,  cheap  and  certain,"  or  for 
having  established  schools  and  dispensaries  within 
reasonable  distance  of  his  residence;  or  for  even  having 
looked  after  his  cattle,  by  the  provision  of  grazing 
lands;  or  for  having  supplied  wood  for  his  implements 
is  to  run  violently  in  the  face  of  facts  to  the  contrary. 
These  are  verily  his  principal  complaints  against 
British  rule.  The  official  Government  is  certainly 
entitled  to  some  credit  for  having  started  the  coopera- 
tive credit  societies  and  a  few  cooperative  rural  banks 
f or_  the_ 6ene"flT*6Fthe^peasantry,  but  the  reform" TsTso 
belated  and  at  present  plays  such  an  insignificant  part 
in  the  rural  economy  of  India  that  it  seems  hardly 
worth  mentioning  or  discussing.5 

But  even  assuming  that  the  official  Government 
has  so  far  done  all  that  for  the  ryot,  what  reason  is 
there  to  insinuate  that  the  Government  of  the  people 
will  fail  to  do  it  for  him  in  the  future  or  will  not  do  it 
so  well  as  or  even  better,  than  has  been  heretofore 
done  by  the  bureaucracy?  It  is  quite  a  gratuitous 
assumption  that  in  future  he  will  be  required  to  do 
all  these  things  for  himself.     Even  in  the  most  advanced 

4  They  are  collected  in  England's  Debt  to  India,  by  the  present 
author.  New  York,  B.  W.  Huebsch,  191 7. 
I    b  See  Sir  D.  Hamilton,  Calcutta  Review,  July,  1916. 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS        53 


democracies  in  the  world  the  peasantry  or  the  masses 

I  of  the  people  do  not  do  these  things  for  themselves. 

Most  of  these  things  are  done  by  officials.     The  only 

difference   is   that   in   a   responsible   government   the 

(officials  are  the  servants  of  the  people  while  in  an 
absolute  government  they  are  their  masters.  We  are 
really   surprised    at    the   presumption   of   the   British 

(bureaucrat,  in  posing  as  the  special  friend  of  the  Indian 
masses  as  against  their  own  educated  countrymen. 
The  experience  of  the  past  does  not  support  the  claim 
and  there  is  absolutely  no  reason  to  assume  that  it 
will  be  different  in  the  future.  A  mere  cursory 
glance  at  the  resolutions  of  the  Indian  National  Con- 
gress passed  continuously  for  a  period  of  thirty  years, 
will  show  how  persistently  and  earnestly  the  educated 
classes  have  been  pleading  inter  alia  for  (a)  cormoulsory 
and  free  education,  (b)  for  technical  instruction  in 
vocations,  (c)  for  the  reduction  of  the  salt  tax  and  the 
land  tax,  (d)  for  the  raising  of  the  minimum  incomes 
liable  to  income  tax,  (e)  for  the  provision  of  pasture 
lands,  (f)  for  the  comforts  of  the  third-class  railway 
travelling  public,  (g)  for  the  milder  administration  of 
the  forest  laws,  (h)  for  the  reform  of  the  Police,  etc. 
All  these  years  the  bureaucracy  did  nothing  for  the 
ryot  and  now  they  pose  as  his  special  friends,  whose 
continuance  in  power  and  in  office  is  necessary  for  his 
protection  from  the  politically  minded  middle  classes. 
We  are  a  friend  neither  of  the  landlord  nor  of  the 
capitalist.  We  believe  that  the  ryot  and  the  working 
men  in  India  as  elsewhere  are  being  exploited  and 
robbed  by  the  classes  in  possession  of  the  means 
of  production  and  distribution.  We  would  whole- 
heartedly support  any  scheme  which  would  open  a 


54  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

way  to  a  just  and  righteous  distribution  of  wealth  and 
land  in  India  and  which  would  insure  the  ryot  and  the 
working  man  his  rightful  place  in  the  body  politic. 
We  would  not  mind  the  aid  of  the  foreign  bureaucracy 
toward  that  end  if  we  could  be  sure  that  the  bureau- 
cracy would  or  could  do  it.     But  we  have  no  doubts 
in  the  matter  that  it  cannot  be  done.     The  bureaucracy  j 
has  so  far  played  into  the  hands  of  the  plutocrat./ 
They  have  served  first  their  own  capitalists  and  then' 
the  capitalists  and  landlords  of  India.     Some  among! 
them  have  tried  to  do  a  little  for  the  submerged  classes, 
the  poor  ryot  and  the  ill-paid  sweated  laborer,   but 
their    efforts    were    of    no    consequence.     They    have 
failed  and  their  failure  is  writ  large  on  the  face  of 
the  ryot.     We  are  not  sanguine  that  the  politically 
minded  classes  when  they  get  power  will  immediately 
rehabilitate  the  ryot  and  give  him  his  due.     We  have 
no  hope  of  that  kind.     Yet  we  unhesitatingly  support 
the  demand  of  the  politically  minded  classes  for  a 

•  responsible  government  in  India.  In  our  judgment, 
that  is  the  only  way  to  raise  the  masses  to  a  conscious- 
ness of  their  rights  and  responsibilities.  The  experience  * 
of  the  West  tells  us  that  in  that  way  and  in  that  way 
alone  lies  salvation.  Political  consciousness  must 
travel  from  the  classes  to  the  masses  and  the  longer 
the  inauguration  of  popular  Government  is  delayed,/ 

I  the  greater  the  delay  in  the  awakening  of  the  ryotJ 
and  the  working  man.  Absolutism  must  first  giv^ 
way  and  transfer  its  power  to  the  politically  minde 
classes,  then  will  come  the  turn  of  the  masses  to  dema 
their  rights  and  compel  compliance.  We  can  see  £o 
risk  of  a  greater  harm  or  injury  to  the  masses  of  India 
from  the  transference  of  power  from  the  hands  of  a 


THE  CONDITIONS   OF  THE  PROBLEMS  55 

close  bureaucracy  of  foreigners  into  the  hands  of  the 
/  educated  and  propertied  oligarchy  of  their  own  country- 
men. Even  in  countries  like  Great  Britain,  America 
and  France  it  is  the  educated  and  the  propertied 
classes  who  rule.  Why  then  this  hubbub  about  the 
impropriety  and  danger  of  giving  power  to  the  same 
classes  in  India?  Why  are  the  representatives  of 
landlordism  and  capitalism  in  the  British  House  of 
Lords  and  among  the  ranks  of  Imperial  Anglo-Indians 
so  solicitous  of  the  welfare  of  the  Indian  masses,  when 

(they  have  for  so  long  persistently  denied  justice  to 
I  the  proletariat  of  their  own  country?  It  is  a  strange 
phenomenon  to  see  the  champions  of  privilege  and 
status,  the  defenders  of  capitalism  and  landlordism, 
the  advocates  of  the  rights  of  property,  the  upholders 
of  caste  in  Great  Britain,  spending  so  much  powder 
and  shot  to  protect  the  Indian  ryot  from  the  prospective 
exploitation  of  him  by  the  Indian  Brahmin  and  the 
Indian  Banya  6  (the  priest  and  the  capitalist).  Let 
the  British  Brahmin  and  the  British  Banya  first  begin 
by  doing  justice  to  the  proletariat  of  their  own  country 
and  then  it  will  be  time  for  them  to  convince  the  Indian 
of  their  altruism  and  honesty  of  purpose  in  obstructing 
the  inauguration  of  responsible  government  in  India  in 
the  interests  of  the  Indian  proletariat.  In  this  con- 
nection the  authors  of  the  Report  make  some  pertinent 
observations  which  deserve  to  be  quoted.  After  speak- 
ing of  " religious  animosities  and  social  cleavages" 
and  the  duty  of  discouraging  them  the  authors  say: 

"Nor  are  we  without  hope  that  the  reforms  will 
themselves  help  to  provide  the  remedy.     We  would 
not    be    misunderstood.     Representative    institutions 
6  "Banya"  in  Hindustan  means  "trader." 


56  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

in  the  West,  where  all  are  equal  at  the  ballot  box,  have 
checked  but  not  abolished  social  exclusiveness.  We 
do  not  make  a  higher  claim  for  similar  institutions  in 
India  than  that  they  will  help  to  soften  the  rigidity 
of  the  caste-system.  But  we  hope  that  these  incidents 
of  it  which  lead  to  the  permanent  degradation  and 
ostracism  of  the  lowest  castes  will  tend  to  disappear  in 
proportion  to  the  acceptance  of  the  ideas  on  which  the 
new  constitution  rests.  There  is  a  further  point. 
An  autocratic  administration,  which  does  not  share 
the  religious  ideas  of  the  people,  obviously  rinds  its 
sole  safe  ground  in  leaving  the  whole  department  of 
traditional  social  usage  severely  alone.  In  such 
matters  as  child-marriage,  it  is  possible  that  through 
excess  of  caution  proper  to  the  regime  under  which  it 
works,  it  may  be  actually  perpetuating  and  stereotyp- 
ing customs  which  the  better  mind  of  India  might  be 
brought,  after  the  necessary  period  of  stuggle,  to 
modify.  A  government,  in  which  Indians  themselves 
participate,  invigorated  by  a  closer  touch  with  a  more 
enlightened  popular  opinion,  may  be  able  with  all  due 
caution  to  effect  with  the  free  assent  or  acquiescence 
of  the  Indians  themselves,  what  under  the  present 
system  has  to  be  rigorously  set  aside." 

Nor  are  the  authors  unmindful  of  the  effect  of  free 
institutions  on  the  character  of  the  people  as  they 
themselves  over  and  over  again  recognise. 

"Free  institutions  have,  as  we  have  said,  the  faculty 
of  reacting  on  the  adverse  conditions  in  which  the 
start  has  to  be  made.  The  backwardness  of  education 
may  embarrass  the  experiment  at  the  outset;  but  it 
certainly  ought  not  to  stop  it,  because  popular  govern- 
ment in  India  as  elsewhere  is  sure  to  promote  the 
progressive  spread  of  education  and  so  a  widening 
circle  of  improvement  will  be  set  up."  7 

7  In  this  connection  the  pertinent  observations  of  the  Aga  Khan 
in  his  book  India  in  Transition  may  be  read  (Chapter  XXV),  Putnam, 
New  York. 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS        57 

Among  the  authors'  reasons  for  what  they  call  a 
gradual  advance  they  state  the  following  also:  (a)  "We 
|  find  it  freely  and  widely  admitted  that  they  (i.e.  the 
I  Indians)  are  not  yet  ready."  This  admission  may 
legitimately  be  used  against  the  total  withdrawal  of 
all  control  of  Indian  affairs  by  the  Parliament.  Firstly, 
it  is  questionable  whether  any  such  admission  is  really 
"freely  and  widely"  made.  Secondly,  the  admission 
justifies  the  retention  of  the  powers  of  vital,  general 
supervision  and  general  control  and  also  the  retention 
of  some  Europeans  in  the  higher  services,  but  not  the 
total  denial  of  all  responsibility  for  maintaining  law 
and  order  and  of  all  power  to  control  the  central 
Executive,  (b)  That  the  responsibility  of  India's 
defence  is  the  ultimate  burden  which  rests  on  the  | 
Government  of  India;  and  this  duty  is  the  last  ; 
which  can  be  intrusted  to  inexperienced  or  unskilful 
hands. 

"So  long  as  India  depends  for  her  internal  and 
external  security  upon  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  the  measure  of  self-determination 
which  she  enjoys  must  be  inevitably  limited.  We 
cannot  think  that  Parliament  would  consent  to  the 
employment  of  British  arms  in  support  of  a  policy 
over  which  it  had  no  control  and  of  which  it  might 
disapprove.  The  defence  of  India  is  an  Imperial 
question:  and  for.  this  reason  the  Government  of 
India  must  retain  both  the  power  and  the  means  of 
discharging  its  responsibilities  for  the  defence  of  the 
country  and  to  the  Empire  as  a  whole." 

The  defence  of  India  involves,  (a)  men  for  the  army 
and  the  navy,  (b)  officers,  (c)  war  materials  and  war 
ships,  (d)  experts  in  strategy,  (e)  money.  That  India 
pays  for  her  defense  and  also  contributes  towards  the 


58  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

defence  of  the  Empire  are  facts  which  cannot  be 
questioned.  That  she  shall  continue  to  do  so  in  the 
future  may  also  be  assumed.  That  it  is  extremely 
desirable  that  in  the  matter  of  war  supplies  she  should 
be  self-dependent  has  been  freely  admitted.  The 
permanent  Indian  army  as  constituted  in  pre-war  days 
contained  two-thirds  Indians  and  one-third  British. 
If  the  present  strength  of  the  Indian  army  be  examined 
it  will  be  found  that  the  proportion  of  British  troops  is 
still  smaller.  There  is  absolutely  no  need  of  British 
soldiers  in  India  for  the  purposes  of  defence,  but  if 
the  British  Government  wants  to  keep  them  as  safe- 
guards against  mutiny  among  the  purely  Indian  army 
or  against  the  spirit  of  rebellion  that  at  any  time  may 
exhibit  itself  among  the  Indian  people,  then  the  British 
I  exchequer  must  pay  for  them  as  it  did  in  the  case  of 
I  British  garrison  in  South  Africa  or  as  the  United  States 
j  does  in  the  case  of  American  troops  in  the  Philippines. 
It  is  adding  insult  to  injury  to  argue  that  we  should 
not  only  pay  for  British  troops  but  that  the  fact  that 
British  troops  form  a  constituent  element  of  the 
Indian  army  should  be  used  against  us  for  denying  us 
full  responsibility  even  in  civil  affairs.  The  armies  of 
the  various  Asiatic  Governments  surrounding  India 
have  no  European  elements  in  them  and  the  Indian 
soldier  is  as  efficient  a  fighter  as  is  needed  as  a  pro- 
tection. That  the  Indian  army  should  be  almost 
exclusively  officered  by  the  British  is  a  survival  of| 
the  policy  of  mistrust,  jealousy  and  racial  discrimina 
tion  which  has  hitherto  prevailed.  It  is  time  that 
the  Indian  army  should  in  future  be  mainly  officered 
by  the  Indians.  Until  that  is  achieved  it  must 
continue  as  a  tentative  measure  to  be  officered  by 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS         59 

the  British,  and  the  Indian  Revenues  must  bear  the 
burden.  But  that  is  hardly  any  reason  for  denying 
us  full  responsible  government  even  on  the  civil  side. 
The  Indians  do  not  desire  nor  demand  the  transfer 
of  the  control  over  the  Army  or  the  Navy  until  the 
Army  is  principally  officered  by  the  Indians  and  an 
Indian  Navy  has  been  built  to  supplement  the  Imperial 
Navy.  From  this  criticism  of  the  reasons  advanced 
by  the  authors  for  a  very  mild  "  advance "  (called 
" gradual")  it  is  with  pleasure  that  we  turn  to  the 
brighter  side  of  the  picture  showing  the  favorable 
features  of  the  situation.  The  position  of  the  educated 
Indian  is  described  fairly  and  squarely  in  Para- 
graph 140. 

"The  old  assumption  that  the  interests  of  the  ryot 
must  be  confided  to  official  hands  is  strenuously  denied 
by  modern  educated  Indians.  They  claim  that  the 
European  official  must  by  his  lack  of  imagination  and 
comparative  lack  of  skill  in  tongues  be  gravely  handi- 
capped in  interpreting  the  thoughts  and  desires  of  an 
Asiatic  people.  .  .  .  Our  educational  policy  in  the 
past  aimed  at  satisfying  the  few,  who  sought  after 
English  education,  without  sufficient  thought  of  the 
consequences  which  might  ensue  from  not  taking  care 
to  extend  instruction  to  the  many.  We  have  in  fact 
created  a  limited  intelligentsia,  who  desire  advance; 
and  we  cannot  stay  their  progress  entirely  until  educa- 
tion has  been  extended  to  the  masses.  It  has  been 
made  a  reproach  to  the  educated  classes  that  they 
have  followed  too  exclusively  after  one  or  two  pursuits, 
the  law,  journalism  or  school  teaching:  and  that  these 
are  all  callings  which  make  men  inclined  to  overrate 
the  importance  of  words  and  phrases.  But  even  if 
there  is  substance  in  the  count,  we  must  take  note  also 
how  far  the  past  policy  of  Government  is  responsible. 
We  have  not  succeeded  in  making  education  practical. 


60  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

It  is  only  now,  when  the  war  has  revealed  the  im- 
portance of  industry,  that  we  have  deliberately  set 
about  encouraging  Indians  to  undertake  the  creation 
of  wealth  by  industrial  enterprise,  and  have  thereby 
offered  the  educated  classes  any  tangible  inducement 
to  overcome  their  traditional  inclination  to  look  down 
on  practical  forms  of  energy.  We  must  admit  that 
the  educated  Indian  is  a  creation  peculiarly  of  our 
own;  and  if  we  take  the  credit  that  is  due  to  us  for 
his  strong  points  we  must  admit  a  similar  liability  for 
his  weak  ones.  Let  us  note  also  in  justice  to  him  that 
the  progressive  Indian  appears  to  realise  the  narrow 
basis  of  his  position  and  is  beginning  to  broaden  it. 
In  municipal  and  university  work  he  has  taken  a  useful 
and  creditable  share.  We  find  him  organising  effort 
not  for  political  ends  alone,  but  for  various  forms  of 
public  and  social  service.  He  has  come  forward  and 
done  valuable  work  in  relieving  famine  and  distress 
by  floods,  in  keeping  order  at  fairs,  in  helping  pilgrims, 
and  in  promoting  co-operative  credit.  Although  his 
ventures  in  the  fields  of  commerce  have  not  been 
always  fortunate,  he  is  beginning  to  turn  his  attention 
more  to  the  improvement  of  agriculture  and  industry. 
Above  all,  he  is  active  in  promoting  education  and 
sanitation;  and  every  increase  in  the  number  of 
educated  people  adds  to  his  influence  and  authority." 

The  authors  also  say: 

"We  must  remember,  too,  that  the  educated  Indian 
has  come  to  the  front  by  hard  work;  he  has  seized  the 
education  which  we  offered  him  because  he  first  saw 
its  advantages;  and  it  is  he  who  has  advocated  and 
worked  for  political  progress.  All  this  stands  to  his 
credit.  For  thirty  years  he  has  developed  in  his 
Congress  and  latterly  in  the  Muslim  League  free 
popular  convocations  which  express  his  ideals.  We 
owe  him  sympathy  because  he  has  conceived  and  pur- 
sued the  idea  of  managing  his  own  affairs,  an  aim 
which   no   Englishman   can   fail   to  respect.     He   has 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  PROBLEMS        6 1 

made  a  skilful,  and  on  the  whole  a  moderate,  use  of 
the  opportunities  which  we  have  given  him  in  the 
legislative  councils  of  influencing  Government  and 
affecting  the  course  of  public  business,  and  of  recent 
years,  he  has  by  speeches  and  in  the  press  done  much 
to  spread  the  idea  of  a  united  and  self-respecting  India 
among  thousands  who  had  no  such  conception  in  their 
minds.  Helped  by  the  inability  of  the  other  classes 
in  India  to  play  a  prominent  part  he  has  assumed  the 
place  of  leader;  but  his  authority  is  by  no  means 
universally  acknowledged  and  may  in  an  emergency 
prove  weak." 

In  face  of  these  observations  about  the  politically 
minded  classes  of  India  it  is  rather  unkind  of  the 
authors  to  insinuate  later  on  that  in  the  interests  of 
the  foreign  merchant,  the  foreign  missionary  and  the 
European  servants  of  the  state  it  is  necessary  that  the 
Government  of  India  should  yet  remain  absolute  and 
that,  in  the  provinces  as  well,  important  branches  of 
the  administration  should  be  excluded  from  the  juris- 
diction of  the  popular  assemblies. 

To  sum  up,  while  we  are  prepared  to  concede  that 
the  conditions  of  the  problem  may  justify  the  with- 
holding of  absolute  autonomy,  —  political,  fiscal,  and 
military,  —  for  some  time,  there  is  nothing  in  them 
which  can  in  any  way  be  deemed  sufficient  to  deny 
full  political,  and,  if  not  complete,  at  least  substantial 
fiscal  autonomy  to  the  Indian  people  at  once. 


VI 

THE   PUBLIC   SERVICES  IN  INDIA 

The  governing  consideration,  therefore,  in 
all  these  cases  [speaking  of  German  colo- 
nies] must  be  that  the  inhabitants  should  be 
placed  under  the  control  of  an  administration 
acceptable  to  themselves,  one  of  whose  main 
purposes  will  be  to  prevent  their  exploita- 
tion for  the  benefit  of  European  capitalists  or 
Governments. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"The  War  Aims  of  the  Allies."  Speech 
delivered  to  delegates  of  the  Trades  Unions, 
at  the  Central  Hall,  Westminster,  January  5, 
1918. 

Until  now  the  European  servants  of  the  British 
Government  have  ruled  India  quite  autocratically. 
The  powers  delegated  to  and  the  discretion  vested  in 
them  have  been  so  large  that  they  could  do  almost 
anything  they  liked.  They  could  make  or  mar  the 
fortunes  of  millions;  they  could  further  their  happiness 
or  add  to  their  misery  by  the  simple  fiat  of  their  will 
The  only  limitation  on  their  power  was  their  own 
sense  of  duty  and  justice.  That  some  of  them  did  let 
themselves  go  is  no  wonder.  The  wonder  is  that  the 
instances  of  unbridled  oppression  and  tyranny  were 
not  more  numerous  than  they  have  actually  been. 
Speaking  of  the  European  services  generally,  we  havt 

62 


THE  PUBLIC   SERVICES  IN  INDIA  63 

nothing  but  admiration  for  their  general  character. 
The  particular  branch  of  the  Public  Services  that  has 
been  all  along  entrusted  with  the  general  administration 
of  the  country  is  known  as  the  Indian  Civil  Service. 
I   It   is    recruited   in    England    and   is    overwhelmingly 
j   European  in  personnel.     On  April  i,  19 13,  only  forty- 
six  of  the  13 19  civilians  on  the  cadre  were  natives  of 
'  India. 

Speaking  of  the  executive  organizations  that  have  so 
far  ruled  India,  the  eminent  authors  of  the  Report 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  Government  of  India 
remark  that  it  may  "well  be  likened  to  a  mere  system 
of  official  posts,  actuated  till  now  by  impulses  of  its 
own,  but  affected  by  the  popular  ideas  which  impinge 
on  it  from  three  sources  —  the  British  Parliament,  the 
legislative  councils  and  the  local  boards."  The 
sentence  would  have  been  correct  if  in  place  of  "but 
affected"  the  authors  had  said  "and  affected  but 
little."  "The  system,"  they  add,  "has  in  the  main 
depended  for  its  effectiveness  on  the  experience, 
wisdom  and  energy  of  the  services  themselves.  It 
has,  for  the  most  part,  been  represented  by  the  Indian 
Civil  Service  which,  though  having  little  to  do  with 
the  technical  departments  of  government,  has  for  over 
100  years  in  practice  had  the  administration  entrusted 
to  its  hands,  because,  with  the  exception  of  the  offices  of 
the  Governor  General,  Governors,  and  some  members  of 
the  executive  councils,  it  has  held  practically  all  the 
places  involving  superior  control.  It  has  been  in  effect 
\  much  more  of  a  government  corporation  than  of  a 
j  purely  civil  service  in  the  English  sense.  It  has  been 
made  a  reproach  to  the  Indian  Civil  Service  that  it 
regards  itself  as  the  Government;    but  a  view  which 


64  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

strikes  the  critic  familiar  with  parliamentary  govern- 
ment as  arrogant  is  little  more  than  a  condensed 
truth."     [The  italics  are  ours.] 

The  Indian  Civil  Service  has  thus  developed  all  the 
characteristics,  good  and  bad,  of  a  caste.  It  has  been 
a  powerful  bureaucracy,  as  exclusive,  proud,  arrogant 
and  self-sufficient,  —  if  not  even  more  so,  —  as  the 
original  Brahmin  oligarchy  of  the  land,  except  that 
while  the  Brahmin  oligarchy  had  ties  of  race,  religion 
and  culture  with  the  rest  of  the  population,  the  Indian 
Civil  Service  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  aliens. 
The  ancient  Brahmins  were,  however,  kept  in  check 
by  the  military  caste.  The  mutual  jealousies  of  these 
two  castes  afforded  some  kind  of  protection  to  the 
people  in  general.  But  in  the  case  of  the  British 
Indian  Civil  Service,  the  military  have  given  entire 
support  to  their  civilian  fellow-countrymen  and  have 
been  completely  under  their  will. 

The  Brahmins  of  India  have  left  a  monumental 
record  of  their  labors.  They  produced  great  thinkers, 
writers,  legislators,  administrators  and  organizers. 
In  their  own  time  they  were  as  wise,  energetic  and 
resourceful  as  any  bureaucracy  in  the  world  has  ever 
been  or  will  ever  be.  Yet  the  system  of  life  they 
devised  cut  at  the  roots  of  national  vitality.  It  dried  \ 
almost  all  the  springs  of  corporate  national  life.  It 
reduced  the  bulk  of  the  population  to  a  position  of 
complete  subservience  to  their  will,  of  blind  faith  in 
their  wisdom,  of  absolute  dependence  on  their  initia- 
tive. It  deprived  the  common  people  of  all  oppor- 
tunities of  independent  thought  and  independent 
action.  It  brought  about  a  kind  of  national  atrophy,  I 
And  this,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  began  by  im- 


THE  PUBLIC   SERVICES  IN  INDIA  65 

posing  a  rigorous  code  of  self-denial  on  themselves  and 
their  class.  For  themselves  they  wanted  nothing  but 
a  life  of  poverty  and  asceticism.  Their  economic 
interests  were  never  in  theory  or  in  practice  in  conflict 
with  those  of  the  rest  of  the  body  politic. 

A  Brahmin  was  forbidden  to  engage  in  trade  or 
otherwise  accumulate  wealth.  His  life  was  a  life  of 
strict  self-abnegation.  This  cannot  be  said  of  the 
Indian  Civil  Servant.  He  receives  a  handsome  salary 
for  his  services,  expects  and  receives  periodic  promotion 
until  he  reaches  a  position  which,  from  an  economic 
point  of  view,  is  not  unenviable.  After  retirement  he 
is  free  to  engage  in  trade  and  otherwise  accumulate 
wealth.  But  over  and  above  this,  what  distinguishes 
an  Indian  Civil  Servant  from  an  old  Brahmin  bureau- 
crat is  the  fact  that  in  India  he  represents  a  nation 
whose  economic  interest  may  not  always  be  in  har- 
mony with  those  of  the  people  of  India.  He  is  thus 
supposed  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  interests  of  his 
countrymen,  and  is  expected  to  further  them  as  much 
as  he  can  without  altogether  endangering  the  safety 
of  British  rule  in  India.  Looked  at  from  this  angle, 
we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  work  of  the 
Indian  Civil  Service,  too,  has  in  its  way,  been  monu- 
mental. As  a  rule,  they  have  proved  capable  adminis- 
trators, individually  honest,  hardworking  and  alert. 
They  have  organized  and  tabulated  India  in  a  way, 
perhaps,  never  done  before.  But  after  all  has  been 
said  in  their  praise,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  have 
done  India  even  more  harm  than  the  Brahmin  oli- 
garchy in  its  time,  did,  by  the  support  they  lent  to 
economic  exploitation  of  the  country  by  men  of  their 
own  race  and  religion.     Now,  in  this  latter  respect,  we 


66  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

want  to  guard  against  being  misunderstood.  The 
Indian  Civil  Service  has,  in  the  course  of  about  a 
century,  produced  a  fairly  good  number  of  men  who 
have  honestly  and  fearlessly  stood  for  the  protection 
of  Indian  interests  against  those  of  people  of  their  own 
race  and  religion.  In  doing  so  they  have  sometimes 
ruined  their  own  prospects  of  promotion  and  advance- 
ment. Whenever  they  failed  in  their  self-imposed 
task,  and  more  often  they  failed  than  not,  they  failed 
because  the  authorities  at  the  top  were  forced  by 
considerations  of  domestic  and  imperial  policy  to  do 
otherwise.  On  the  whole,  the  defects  of  the  bureau- 
cratic administration   were   more   the   defects   of   the 

I  system  than  of  the  individuals  composing  it. 

The  Indian  Civil  Servant,  like  the  old  Brahmin,  is 
autocratic  and  dictatorial.  He  dislikes  any  display  of 
independence  by  the  people  put  under  his  charge. 
He  discourages  initiative.  He  likes  to  be  called  and 
considered  the  Mai  bap  (mother  and  father)  of  his 
subjects.  On  those  who  literally  consider  him  such 
he  showers  his  favors.  The  others  he  denounces  and 
represses.     This   has,  in   the  course  of   time,  led   to 

'  national  emasculation.  That  is  our  chief  complaint 
against  the  Indian  Civil  Service.  Of  the  other  services 
we  would  rather  not  speak.  They  have  by  no  means 
been  so  pure  and  high-minded  as  the  I.  C.  S.,  nor 
perhaps  so  autocratic  and  dictatorial.  The  number  of 
men  who  misused  their  powers  and  opportunities  to 
their  own  advantage  has  been  much  larger  in  services 
other  than  the  I.  C.  S.  Yet  they  all  have  done  a 
certain  amount  of  good  work  for  India;  whether  one 
looks  at  the  engineering  works  designed  and  executed 
by  them,  or  the  researches  they  have  made  in  the 


THE  PUBLIC   SERVICES  IN  INDIA  67 

science  of  healing  and  preventing  disease,  or  the  risks 
they  have  run  in  preserving  order  or  maintaining 
peace  one  cannot  but  admire  their  efficiency  and  ability. 
The  grievances  of  the  Indian  Nationalists  against  the 
Public  Services  in  India  may  be  thus  summarized: 

(a)  That  the  services  monopolize  too  much  power 
and  are  practically  uncontrolled  by  and  irresponsible 
to  the  people  of  the  country. 

(b)  That  the  higher  branches  of  the  services  contain 
too  many  foreigners. 

(c)  That  these  are  recruited  in  England,  and  from 
some  of  them  the  Indians  are  altogether  barred. 

(d)  That  even  when  doing  the  same  work  Indians 
are  not  paid  on  the  same  scale  as  the  Europeans. 

(e)  That  the  Government  has  often  kept  on  men  of 
proved  inefficiency  and  of  inferior  qualities. 

(/")  That,  considering  the  economic  conditions  of 
India,  the  higher  servants  of  the  Government  are  paid 
on  a  scale  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  public  admin- 
istration in  the  world. 

(g)  That  the  interests  of  the  services  often  supersede 
those  of  the  country  and  the  Government. 

(h)  And  last,  but  not  least,  that  by  the  gathering 
of  all  powers  of  initiative  and  execution  in  their  hands 
they  have  emasculated  India. 

As  regards  (a)  we  have  already  quoted  the  opinion 
of  the  eminent  authors  of  the  report.  The  principle 
laid  down  in  the  announcement  of  August  20,  and  the 
scheme  proposed  are  supposed  to  do  away  with  the 
element  of  irresponsibility.  It  is  obvious  that  with 
the  introduction  of  the  principle  of  popular  control 
into  the  Government,  the  power  of  individual  servants 
of  the  executive  will  not  remain  what  it  is  now,  or  has 


68  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

been  in  the  past.  Much  that  is  vested  in  and  done  by 
the  service  will  be  transferred  to  public  bodies  elected 
by  popular  vote.  This  will  naturally  affect  (b)  and 
(c)  also.  We  will  here  stop  to  quote  again  from  the 
Report: 

"In  the  forefront  of  the  announcement  of  Aug- 
ust 20  the  policy  of  the  increasing  association  of  Indians 
in  every  branch  of  the  administration  was  definitely 
placed.  It  has  not  been  necessary  for  us,  nor  indeed 
would  it  have  been  possible,  to  go  into  this  large 
question  in  detail  in  the  time  available  for  our  inquiry. 
We  have  already  seen  that  Lord  Hardinge's  Govern- 
ment was  anxious  to  increase  the  number  of  Indians 
in  the  public  services,  and  that  a  Royal  Commission 
was  appointed  in  191 2  to  examine  and  report  on  the 
existing  limitations  in  the  employment  of  Indians. 
.  .  .  The  report  was  signed  only  a  few  months  after 
the  outbreak  of  war,  and  its  publication  was  deferred 
in  the  hope  that  the  war  would  not  be  prolonged. 
When  written,  it  might  have  satisfied  moderate  Indian 
opinion,  but  when  published  two  years  later  it  was 
criticised  as  wholly  disappointing.  Our  inquiry  has 
since  given  us  ample  opportunity  of  .judging  the  impor- 
tance which  Indian  opinion  attaches  to  this  question. 
While  we  take  account  of  this  attitude,  a  factor  which 
carries  more  weight  with  us  is  that  since  the  report 
was  signed  an  entirely  new  policy  toward  Indian 
government  has  been  adopted,  which  must  be  very 
largely  dependent  for  success  on  the  extent  to  which 
it  is  found  possible  to  introduce  Indians  into  every 
branch  of  the  administration." 

The  authors  of  the  Report  then  proceed  to  state  the 
limitations  of  the  process,  subject  to  the  general 
remark  that  at  the  present  moment  there  are  few 
Indians  (we  do  not  admit  this)  trained  in  public  life, 
who  can  replace  the  Europeans,  and  thus  to  alter  the 


THE  PUBLIC   SERVICES  IN  INDIA  69 

personnel  of  a  service   must   be  a  long  and  steady 
process.     They  admit  that: 

"If  responsible  government  is  to  be  established  in 
India  there  will  be  a  far  greater  need  than  is  even 
dreamt  of  at  present  for  persons  to  take  part  in  public 
affairs  in  the  legislative  assemblies  and  elsewhere; 
and  for  this  reason  the  more  Indians  we  can  employ 
in  the  public  services  the  better.  Moreover,  it  would 
lessen  the  burden  of  Imperial  responsibilities  if  a  body 
of  capable  Indian  administrators  could  be  produced. 
-  We  regard  it  as  necessary,  therefore,  that  recruitment 
of  a  largely  increased  proportion  of  Indians  should  be 
begun  at  once." 

In  the  next  paragraph  they  state  why,  in  their 
judgment,  it  is  necessary  that  a  substantial  portion  of 
the  services  must  continue  to  be  European.  Their 
reasons  may  be  gathered  from  the  following: 

"The  characteristics  which  we  have  learned  to 
associate  with  the  Indian  public  services  must  as  far 
as  possible  be  maintained  and  the  leaven  of  officers 
possessed  of  them  should  be  strong  enough  to  assure 
and  develop  them  in  the  service  as  a  whole.  The 
qualities  of  courage,  leadership,  decision,  fixity  of 
purpose,  detached  judgment  and  integrity  in  her  public 
servants  will  be  as  necessary  as  ever  to  India.  There 
must  be  no  such  sudden  swamping  of  any  service  with 

I  any  new  element  that  its  whole  character  suffers  a 

I  rapid  alteration." 

On  these  grounds  they  make  the  following  recom- 
mendations : 

"I.  That  all  distinctions  based  on  race  be  removed, 
and  that  appointments  to  all  branches  of  the  public 
service  be  made  without  racial  discrimination"  (Para- 
graph 315). 


70  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

"II.  That  for  all  the  public  services,  for  which  there 
is  recruitment  in  England  open  to  Europeans  and 
Indians  alike,  there  must  be  a  system  of  appointment 
in  India,  .  .  .  and  we  propose  to  supplement  it  by 
fixing  a  definite  percentage  of  recruitment  to  be  made 
in  India." 

"HI.  We  have  not  been  able  to  examine  the  question 
of  the  percentage  of  recruitment  to  be  made  in  India 
for  any  service  other  than  the  Indian  Civil  Service. 
The  Commission  recommended  that  25  per  cent, 
of  the  superior  posts  of  that  service  should  be  recruited 
for  in  India.  We  consider  that  changed  conditions 
warrant  some  increase  in  that  proportion,  and  we 
suggest  that  33  per  cent,  of  the  superior  posts  should 
be  recruited  for  in  India,  and  that  this  percentage 
should  be  increased  by  ij  per  cent,  annually  until  the 
periodic  commission  is  appointed  which  will  re-examine 
the  whole  subject.  .  .  .  We  have  dealt  only  with  the 
Indian  Civil  Service,  but  our  intention  is  that  there 
should  be  in  all  other  services  now  recruited  from 
England  a  fixed  percentage  of  recruitment  in  India, 
increasing  annually.' ' 

Now  we  must  admit  that  this  is  certainly  a  distinct 
and  marked  advance  on  the  existing  situation.  The 
Indian  Constitutional  party,  however,  wants  to  have 
the  percentage  of  recruitment  in  India  fixed  at  50  per 
cent.,  retaining  at  the  same  time  the  annual  increase  I 
suggested.  In  our  opinion,  this  difference  is  not 
material,  provided  the  number  of  posts  to  which  the 
rule  of  percentage  is  to  be  applied  is  substantially 
reduced.     We  may  state  our  position  briefly. 

We  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  system  of  administra- 
tion in  India  is  much  more  costly  than  it  should  be, 
considering  the  sources  and  the  amounts  of  Indian 
revenues.  Unless  the  industries  of  the  country  are 
developed   we  can  see   no   new  sources  of  increased  j 


THE  PUBLIC  SERVICES  IN  INDIA  7 1 

1  taxation.  Consequently,  to  us,  it  seems  essential  that 
some  economy  should  be  effected  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  administration.  The  only  way  to  effect 
that  economy  is  to  substantially  reduce  the  number 
of  posts  on  which  it  is  considered  necessary  to  retain 
a  certain  percentage  of  Europeans.  In  speaking  of 
the  machinery  of  the  Government  of  India,  the  authors 
of  the  Report  say: 

"We  think  we  have  reason  for  saying  that  in  some 
respects  the  machinery  is  no  longer  equal  to  the  needs  of 
the  time.  The  normal  work  of  the  departments  is 
heavy.  The  collective  responsibility  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  weighty,  especially  in  time  of  war.  There  is 
little  time  or  energy  left  for  those  activities  of  a  political 
nature  which  the  new  situation  in  the  country 
demands.  A  legislative  session  of  the  Government  of 
India  imposes  a  serious  strain  upon  the  departments, 
and  especially  on  the  members  in  charge  of  them. 
But  apart  from  the  inevitable  complexities  of  the 
moment,  the  growing  burden  of  business,  which  results 
from  the  changing  political  conditions  of  the  country, 
is  leading  to  an  accumulation  of  questions  which  cannot 
be  disposed  of  as  quickly  as  they  present  themselves. 
We  find  the  necessity  for  reforms  admitted,  principles 
agreed  upon,  and  decisions  taken,  and  then  long  delays 
in  giving  effect  to  them.  Difficulties  are  realized, 
enquiries  are  started,  commissions  report,  and  then 
there  is  a  pause.  There  is  a  belief  abroad  that  assur- 
ances given  in  public  pronouncement  of  policy  are 
sometimes  not  fulfilled.  On  this  occasion,  therefore, 
we  have  taken  steps  to  guard  against  such  imputations, 
and  to  provide  means  for  ensuring  the  ordered  develop- 
ment of  our  plans." 

PRESENT  CAUSES  OF  DELAY 

"267.  The  main  fault  for  the  clogging  of  the  machine 
does    not,    we    think,    lie    altogether    with    its    highly 


72  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

trained  engineers.  What  is  chiefly  wanted  is  some 
change  of  system  in  the  directions  of  simplicity  and 
speed.  How  does  it  happen  that  announcements  are 
made  that  arouse  expectations  only  to  defeat  them?  We 
know  that  it  is  not  from  any  intention  of  deluding  the 
public.  We  suggest  that  it  is  because  the  wheels 
move  too  slowly  for  the  times;  the  need  for  change  is 
realized,  but  because  an  examination  of  details  would 
take  too  long,  promises  are  made  in  general  terms, 
which  on  examination  it  becomes  necessary  so  to 
qualify  with  reservations  as  to  disappoint  anticipations, 
and  even  to  lead  to  charges  of  breach  of  faith.  We 
suspect  that  a  root-cause  of  some  political  discontent 
lies  in  such  delays.  Now,  so  far  as  the  provinces  are 
concerned,  we  believe  that  our  proposals  for  freeing 
them  to  a  great  extent  from  the  control  of  the  Government 
of  India  and  the  Secretary  of  State  will  improve  matters. 
But  the  Government  of  India  are  in  the  worst  case." 
[The  italics  are  ours.] 

These  observations  raise  an  apprehension  in  our 
mind  that  it  is  proposed  to  add  to  the  strength  of 
the  services  under  the  Government  of  India.  We,  for 
ourselves,  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  otherwise.  With 
the  steady  admission  of  the  popular  element  into  the 
Government  of  India  the  activities  of  the  latter  are 
likely  to  increase  rather  than  diminish;  the  secretarial 
work  of  the  different  departments  will  expand  rather 
than  contract.  The  question  of  questions  is  how  to 
meet  the  increased  cost. 

The  remedy  is  the  same  as  was  suggested  many 
years  ago  by  Sir  William  Hunter,  the  official  historian 
of  India.     He  said: 

"If  we  are  to  give  a  really  efficient  administration 
to  India,  many  services  must  be  paid  for  at  lower 
rates  even  at  present.     For  those  rates  are  regulated 


THE  PUBLIC  SERVICES  IN  INDIA  73 

in  the  higher  branches  of  the  administration  by  the 
cost  of  officers  brought  from  England.  You  cannot 
work  with  imported  labor  as  cheaply  as  you  can  with 
native  labor,  and  I  regard  the  more  extended  employ- 
ment of  the  natives,  not  only  as  an  act  of  justice,  but 
as  a  financial  necessity.  If  we  are  to  govern  the 
Indian  people  efficiently  and  cheaply,  we  must 
govern  them  by  means  of  themselves,  and  pay  for 
the  administration  at  the  market  rates  for  native 
labor." 

Now,  whatever  may  be  said  about  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  a  strong  European  element  in  the  depart- 
ments which  require  initiative,  courage,  resourcefulness 
and  all  the  other  qualities  of  "leadership"  they  are 
certainly  not  a  sine  qua  non  for  efficiency  in  secretarial 
work.  We  can  see  no  reason  why,  then,  the  different 
secretariats  of  the  Government  of  India  cannot  be 
manned  mainly,  if  not  exclusively,  by  Indians.  Their 
salaries  need  not  be  the  same  as  those  now  paid  to  the 
Europeans  engaged  in  these  departments.  May  we 
ask  if  there  is  any  country  on  earth  where  such  high 
salaries  are  paid  to  the  secretarial  heads  of  departments  I 
as  in  India?  Secretaries  to  the  Government  of  India 
in  the  Army  and  Public  works  and  Legislative  depart- 
ments receive  42,000  Rs.  each  ($14,000,  or  £2800  a 
year);  Secretaries  to  the  Government  of  India  in  the 
Finance,  Foreign,  Home,  Revenue,  Agriculture,  Com- 
merce and  Industry  and  Education  departments  get 
Rs.  48,000  a  year  each  ($16,000  or  £3,200) ;  Educational 
Commissioners  from  30  to  36,000  Rs.  ($10,000  to 
$12,000). 

1  These  secretarial  officers  are  not  of  Cabinet  rank. 
Besides  their  salaries  they  get  various  allowances,  and 


i 


74  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

the  purchasing  value  of  the  rupee  in  India  is  much 
higher  than  that  of  33  cents  in  the  United  States  or  of 
i6d.  in  the  United  Kingdom,  the  exchange  equivalents 
of  an  Indian  rupee.  The  same  remarks  may  be  made 
about  Provincial  Secretariats.  We  do  not  ignore  the 
fact  that  a  European  who  cuts  himself  away  from  his 
country  and  people  for  the  best  part  of  his  life  cannot 
be  expected  to  give  his  time,  energy  and  talents  for  the 
compensation  he  might  accept  in  his  own  country, 
nor  that,  if  the  best  kind  of  European  talent  is  desired 
for  India,  the  compensation  must  be  sufficiently  attrac- 
tive to  tempt  competent  men  to  accept  it.  In  Para- 
graphs 318  to  322,  both  inclusive,  the  Secretary  of 
India  and  the  Viceroy  have  put  forward  a  forceful 
plea  for  improvement  in  the  conditions  of  the  European 
Services  by  (a)  increment  in  their  salaries,  (b)  expediting 
promotions,  and  (c)  grant  of  additional  allowances, 
and  also  by  bettering  the  prospects  of  pensions  and 
leave.  We  are  afraid  the  only  way  to  obtain  the 
concurrence  of  Indian  public  opinion  in  this  matter, 
if  at  all,  is  by  restricting  the  number  of  posts  which 
must  be  held  by  Europeans.  The  cadr.e.  of  services  to 
which  the  rule  of  percentage  is  to  apply  must  be 
reduced  in  strength,  and  if  Europeans  are  required 
for  posts  outside  these  they  should  be  employed  for 
short  periods  and  from  an  open  market.  For  example, 
it  seems  inconceivable  to  us  why  professional  men  like 
doctors,  engineers  and  professors  should  be  recruited 
for  permanent  service.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  why 
the  recruitment  should  be  confined  to  persons  of 
British  domicile.  The  Government  of  India  must  be* 
run  on  business  principles.  With  the  exception,; 
perhaps,  of  the  higher  posts  in  the  I.  C.  S.  and  in  the 


THE   PUBLIC   SERVICES   IN  INDIA  75 

Army,  all  other  offices  should  be  filled  by  taking  the 
supply  on  the  best  available  terms  for  short  periods  and 
from  open  market.  By  reducing  the  number  of  higher 
posts  to  which  the  rule  of  percentage  should  apply, 
the  Government  would  be  reducing  the  number  of 
Indian  officers  who  could  claim  the  same  salary  as  is 
given  to  their  European  colleagues.  In  our  humble 
opinion,  the  latter  claim  is  purely  sentimental,  and 
the  best  interests  of  the  country  require  that  the 
)  administration  should  be  as  economical  as  is  compatible 
with  efficiency.  The  strength  of  the  different  perma- 
nent services  should  be  reduced  as  much  as  possible 
and  the  deficiency  made  up  by  the  appointment  of 
the  best  persons  available  at  the  price  which  the 
administration  may  be  willing  to  pay,  whether  such 
persons  be  European,  Indian  or  American.  Take  the 
Indian  Educational  Service,  for  example.  The  mem- 
bers start  with  a  salary  of  6000  Rs.  a  year  ($2000  or 
£400)  and  rise  to  about  24,000  Rs.  a  year  ($8000  or 
£1600).  In  the  United  States,  to  the  best  of  our 
knowledge,  few  professors,  if  any,  get  a  salary  higher 
than  $7000  or  21,000  Rs.  a  year.  High-class  graduates 
of  Harvard,  Yale  and  Columbia  start  their  tutorial 
careers  at  $2000  to  $3000  a  year,  many  at  $1500  a 
year.  These  men  would  refuse  to  go  to  India  on  a 
similar  salary.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  salary  of 
$4000  to  $10,000  were  offered  to  a  select  few,  the 
services  of  the  men  at  the  top  might  be  had  for  a 
short  period.  Surely,  in  the  best  interests  of  educa- 
tion, it  is  much  better  to  get  first-class  men  on  high 
salaries  for  short  periods  than  permanently  to  have 
third-class  men  beginning  with  smaller  salaries  and 
eventually   rising   to    high    salaries   and   ensuring    to 


76  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

themselves  life  long  pensions.  What  is  true  of  the 
Educational  Service  is  similarly,  if  not  equally,  true 
of  the  Medical,  the  Engineering  and  other  scientific 
services.  At  the  present  time  we  have  men  in  these 
technical  services  who  received  their  education  about 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years  ago  and  whose  knowledge 
of  their  respective  sciences  is  antiquated  and  rusty. 
Apothecaries,  absolutely  innocent  of  any  knowledge 
of  modern  surgery,  are  often  appointed  to  the  post  of 
Civil  Surgeons.  No  sensible  Indian  desires  that  the 
present  incumbents  should  be  interfered  with,  except 
where  it  is  possible  to  retire  them  under  the  terms  of 
their  service.  All  engagements  should  be  met  honor- 
ably. What  is  needed  is  that  in  future  there  should 
be  a  radical  departure  in  the  practice  of  appointing 
non-Indians  to  responsible  posts  in  India.  We  do  not 
want  to  deprive  ourselves  of  the  privilege  of  being 
guided  in  our  work  by  European  talent,  nor  should 
we  grudge  them  adequate  compensation  for  their 
services.  What  we  object  to  is  (i)  racial  discrimina- 
tion; (2)  excessive  power  being  vested  in  individual 
officers;  (3)  the  employment  of  more  than  a  necessary 
number  of  persons  of  alien  origin;  (4)  the  crippling  of 
the  country's  resources  by  burdening  its  finances  with 
unnecessary  pensions  and  leave  allowances;  (5)  the 
continuance  of  men  on  service  lists  long  after  their 
usefulness  has  disappeared;  (6)  the  filling  of  appoint- 
ments by  jobbery,  as  is  now  done  in  the  so-called 
non-regulation  provinces.  We,  in  the  Punjab,  have 
been  "blessed"  by  the  rule  of  several  generations  of 
Smiths,  Harrys  and  Jones.  Those  who  failed  to  pass 
the  I.  C.  S.  joined  the  cadre  by  the  back  door  and 
received  the  same  emoluments  as  those  who  entered 


THE   PUBLIC  SERVICES   IN  INDIA  77 

it  by  competition.     It  is  they  who  block  the  avenues  of 
promotions  and  not  the  sons  of  the  soil. 

COST   OF   ADMINISTRATION 

On  the  subject  of  the  cost  of  administration  it  will 
be  instructive  to  compare  the  annual  salaries  allowed 
to  the  highest  public  servants  in  India,  the  United 
States  and  Japan. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  who  ranks  with 
the  great  royalties  of  the  world  in  position,  gets  a 
salary  of  $75,000,  without  any  other  allowance.  The 
Prime  Minister  of  Japan  gets  12,000  yen,  or  $6000. 
The  Viceroy  and  the  Governor  General  of  India  gets 
250,000  rupees,  or  $83,000,  besides  a  very  large  amount 
in  the  shape  of  various  allowances.  The  Cabinet 
Ministers  of  the  United  States  get  a  salary  of  $12,000 
each,  the  Japanese  8000  yen  or  $4000,  and  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  Viceroy's  Council,  $26,700  each. 

In  the  whole  Federal  Government  of  the  United 
States  there  are  only  three  offices  which  carry  a 
salary  of  more  than  $8000.     They  are: 

The  President  of  the  General  Navy  Board  .    .    .  $13,500 

Solicitor  General $10,000 

Assistant  Solicitor  General $9,000 

All  the  other  salaries  range  from  $2100  to  $8000. 
In  the  State  Department  all  offices,  including  those  of 
the  secretaries,  carry  salaries  of  from  $2100  to  $5000. 
In  the  Treasury  Department  the  Treasurer  gets  $8000, 
three  other  officers  having  $6000  each.  All  the 
remaining  officials  get  from  $2500  to  $5000.  In  the 
War  Department  there  are  only  two  offices  which 
have  a  salary  of   $8000  attached:    that  of  Chief  of 


78  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

Staff  and  that  of  Quartermaster  General.  The  rest 
get  from  $2000  to  $6000.  In  the  Navy  Department, 
besides  the  President  of  the  General  Board  mentioned 
above,  the  President  of  the  Naval  Examination  Board 
gets  $8000  and  so  does  the  Commandant  of  the  Marine 
Corps.  All  the  rest  get  from  $6000  downwards. 
In  the  Department  of  Agriculture  there  is  only  one 
office  carrying  a  salary  of  $6000.  All  the  rest  get 
from  $5000  downwards.  The  Chief  of  the  Weather 
Bureau,  an  expert,  gets  $6000.  In  the  Commerce 
Department  four  experts  get  $6000  each,  the  rest 
from  $5000  downwards. 

In  Japan  the  officials  of  the  Imperial  Household 
have  salaries  ranging  from  $2750  to  $4000.  Officials 
of  the  Higher  Civil  Service  get  from  $1850  to  $2100 
a  year;  the  Vice-Minister  of  State,  $2500;  Chief  of 
the  Legislative  Bureau,  $2500;  the  Chief  Secretary  of 
the  Cabinet,  $2500;  and  the  Inspector  General  of 
the  Metropolitan  Police,  $2500;  President  of  the 
Administrative  Litigation  Court,  $3000;  President  of 
the  Railway  Board,  $3750;  President  of  the  Privy 
Council,  $3000;  Vice-President  of  the  Privy  Council, 
$2750,  and  so  on. 

When  we  come  to  India  we  find  that  the  President 
of  the  Railway  Board  gets  from  $20,000  to  $24,000 
and  that  two  other  members  of  the  Railway  Board 
get  $16,000.  Secretaries  in  the  Army,  Public  Works, 
and  Legislative  Departments  get  $14,000.  Secretaries 
in  Finance,  Foreign,  Home,  Revenue,  Agriculture, 
Commerce  and  Industry  Departments  get  $16,000. 
The  Secretary  in  the  Education  Department  gets 
$12,000;  Joint  Secretary,  $10,000;  Controller  and 
Auditor- General,  $14,000;    Accountant- General,  from 


THE   PUBLIC   SERVICES   IN  INDIA  79 

$9,000  to  $11,000;  Commissioner  of  Salt  Revenue, 
$10,000;  Director  of  Post  and  Telegraph,  from  $12,000 
to  $14,000. 

Among  the  officers  directly  under  the  Government 
of  India  there  are  only  a  few  who  get  salaries  below 
$7000.  Most  of  the  others  get  from  that  sum  up  to 
$12,000. 

The  United  States  includes  forty-eight  States  and 
territories.  Some  of  them  are  as  large  in  area,  if  not 
even  larger,  than  the  several  provinces  of  India.  The 
Governors  of  these  States  are  paid  from  $2500  to 
$12,000  a  year.  Illinois  is  the  only  State  paying 
$12,000;  five  States,  including  New  York  and  Cali- 
fornia, pay  $10,000;  two,  Massachusetts  and  Indiana, 
pay  $8000;  one  pays  $7000,  and  three  pay  $6000. 
All  the  rest  pay  $5000  or  less.  There  is  only  one 
territory,  the  Philippines,  which  pays  a  salary  of 
$20,000  to  its  Governor- General. 

In  India  the  Governors  of  Madras,  Bombay  and 
Bengal  each  receive  $40,000,  besides  a  large  amount 
for  allowances.  The  Lieutenant-Governors  of  the 
Punjab,  the  United  Provinces,  Bihar  and  Burma  get 
$33,000  each,  besides  allowances.  The  Chief  Com- 
missioners receive  $11,000  in  Bihar,  $18,700  in  Assam, 
$20,700  in  the  Central  Provinces,  and  $12,000  in 
Delhi.  The  Political  Residents  in  the  native  States 
receive  from  $11,000  to  $16,000,  besides  allowances. 

In  Japan  the  governors  of  provinces  are  paid  from 
$1850  to  $2250  per  year,  besides  allowances  varying 
from  $200  to  $300. 

The  Provincial  services  in  India  are  paid  on  a  more 
lavish  scale  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  In 
Bengal   the  salaries    range   from  $1600   for  Assistant 


80  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

Magistrate  and  Collector  to  $21,333  to  Members  of 
the  Council,  and  this  same  extravagance  is  also  true 
of  the  other  provinces. 

Coming  to  the  Judiciary,  we  find  that  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  get  a  salary  of 
$14,500  each,  the  Chief  Justice  getting  $15,000;  the 
Circuit  Judges  get  a  salary  of  $7000  each;  the  District 
Judges,  $6000.  In  the  State  of  New  York  the  Judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  belonging  to  the  General  Ses- 
sions, get  from  $17,500  and  those  of  the  Special  Sessions 
from  $9000  to  $10,000  each.  City  Magistrates  get 
from  $7000  to  $8000.  In  India  the  Chief  Justice  of 
Bengal  gets  $24,000;  the  Chief  Justices  of  Bombay, 
Madras  and  the  United  Provinces,  $20,000  each. 
The  Chief  Judges  of  the  Chief  Court  of  the  Punjab  and 
Burma  get  $16,000  each  and  the  Puisine  Judges  of 
the  High  Courts  the  same  amounts. 

The  Puisine  Judges  of  the  Chief  Courts  receive 
$14,000.  In  the  Province  of  Bengal  the  salaries  of 
the  District  and  Session  Judges  range  from  $8,000  to 
$12,000.  District  Judges  of  the  other  provinces  get 
from  about  $7000  to  $12,000.  The  Deputy  Com- 
missioners in  India  get  a  salary  in  the  different  provinces 
ranging  from  $6000  to  $9000  a  year.  The  Com- 
missioners get  from  $10,000  to  $12,000. 

In  Japan  the  Appeal  Court  Judges  and  Procurators 
get  from  $900  to  $2500  a  year.  Only  one  officer,  the 
President  of  the  Court  of  Causation,  gets  as  much  as 
$3000.  The  District  Court  Judges  and  Procurators 
are  paid  at  the  rate  of  from  $375  to  $1850.  It  is 
needless  to  compare  the  salaries  of  minor  officials  in 
the  three  countries.  Since  the  Indian  taxpayer  has 
to  pay  so  heavily  for  the  European  services  engaged  in 


THE  PUBLIC   SERVICES   IN  INDIA  8l 

the  work  of  administration,  it  is  necessary  that  even 
Indian  officers  should"  be  paid  on  a  comparatively  high 
scale,  thus  raising  the  cost  of  administration  hugely 
and  affecting  most  injuriously  the  condition  of  the  men 
in  the  lower  grades  of  the  government  service.  The 
difference  between  the  salaries  of  the  officers  and  the 
men  forming  the  rank  and  file  of  the  government 
in  the  three  countries  shows  clearly  how  the  lowest 
ranks  in  India  suffer  from  the  fact  that  the  highest 
governmental  officials  are  paid  at  such  high  rates. 

In  New  York  City  the  Chief  Inspector  gets  $3500 
a  year;  Captains,  $2750;  Lieutenants,  $2250;  Sur- 
geons, $1,750;  and  Patrolmen,  $1,400  each.  In  Japan 
the  Inspector  General  of  the  Metropolitan  Police  gets 
$2500.  The  figures  of  the  lower  officials  are  not 
available.  But  the  minimum  salary  of  a  Constable 
is  $6.50  a  month,  besides  which  he  gets  his  equipment, 
uniform  and  boots  free.  In  India  the  Inspectors 
General  get  from  $8000  to  $12,000,  the  Deputy 
Inspectors  General  from  $6000  to  $7200,  District 
Superintendents  of  Police  from  $2666  to  $4800, 
Assistants  from  $1200  to  $2000,  Inspectors  from 
$600  to  $1000,  Sub-inspectors  from  $200  to  $400, 
Head  Constables  from  $60  to  $80,  Constables  from 
$40  to  $48. 

We  have  taken  these  figures  from  the  Indian  Year 
Book,  published  by  the  Times  of  India,  Bombay. 
We  know  as  a  fact  that  the  Police- Constables  in  the 
Punjab  are  paid  from  $2.67  to  $3.33  per  month  —  that 
is,  from  $32  to  $40  per  year.  The  reader  should  mark 
the  difference  between  the  grades  of  salaries  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest  in  India  as  compared  with  the 
United  States  and  Japan.     While  in  India  the  lowest 


$2  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

officials  are  frightfully  underpaid,  the  highest  grades 
are  paid  on  a  lavish  scale.  In  the  other  countries  of 
the  world  this  is  not  the  case. 

EDUCATIONAL   DEPARTMENT 

In  the  United  States  (we  quote  the  figures  of  New 
York)  the  lowest  grade  school  teachers  get  a  salary  of 
$720,  rising  to  $1500  a  year.  In  the  upper  grades 
salaries  range  from  $1820  to  $2260.  Principals  of 
elementary  schools  receive  $3500  and  assistants 
$2500.  In  the  High  Schools  salaries  range  from  $900 
to  $3150,  in  training  schools  from  $1000  to  $3250. 
Principals  of  High  Schools  and  Training  Schools 
receive  $5000  and  the  same  salary  is  paid  to  the 
District  Superintendent.  The  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion in  New  York  gets  $7500. 

In  Japan  the  Minister  of  Education,  who  is  a  Cabinet 
Minister,  gets  $4000,  and  the  lowest  salaries  paid  to 
teachers  range  from  $8  to  $9  per  month.  In  the 
United  States  College  Professors  make  from  $3000  to 
$5000  per  year,  a  few  only  getting  higher  sums.  In 
Japan  salaries  range  from  $300  to  $2000.  Coming 
to  India  we  find  that  while  the  Administrative 
officials  and  even  the  College  Professors  get  fairly 
high  salaries,  the  teachers  in  the  schools  are  miserably 
underpaid. 

Even  the  Times  of  India,  an  Anglo-Indian  newspaper 
published  in  Bombay,  has  recently  commented  on 
the  colossal  difference  between  the  salaries  allowed 
at  the  top  and  those  allowed  at  the  bottom.  Yet 
recently  the  Secretary  of  State  has  been  sanctioning 
higher  leave  allowances  to  the  European  officers  of 
the  Indian  Army. 


THE  PUBLIC   SERVICES  IN  INDIA  83 

The  Secretary  of  State  for  India  in  Council  has 
approved,  with  effect  from  January  i,  1919,  the  follow- 
ing revised  rates  of  leave  pay  for  officers  of  the  Indian 
Army  and  Indian  Medical  service  granted  leave  out 
of  India: 

Indian  Army 

per  annum 

On  appointment £200 

After  completion  of    3  years'  service 250 

6   "   "   300 

9    ;;    ;;  350 

12  400 

15  450 

18  "  500 

21  "  550 

24  "  600 

27  "  650 

29  "  700 


11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

Indian  Medical  Service. 

On  appointment.    „ 300 

After  completion  of    3  years'  service 350 

6  400 

9   "    "   4So 

12  500 

15    ;;    "    550 

18         "    600 

21         "    650 

24         "    700 


11 
11 

11 
11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

VII 

THE  INDIAN  ARMY  AND  NAVY 

The  real  enemy  is  the  war  spirit  fostered 
in  Prussia.  It  is  an  ideal  of  a  world  in  which 
force  and  brutality  reign  supreme,  as  against 
a  world,  an  ideal  of  a  world,  peopled  by  free 
democracies,  united  in  an  honourable  league 
of  peace. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"The  Destruction  of  a  False  Ideal." 
Speech  delivered  at  the  Albert  Hall  on  the 
launching  of  the  New  War  Economy 
Campaign,  October  22,  191 7. 

When  the  Indian  troops  first  arrived  in 
October,  1914,  the  situation  was  of  so  drastic 
a  nature  that  it  was  necessary  to  call  upon 
them  at  once  to  re-enforce  the  fighting  front 
and  help  to  stem  the  great  German  thrust. 
Their  fine  fighting  qualities,  tenacity,  and 
endurance  were  well  manifested  during  the 
first  Battle  of  Ypres  before  they  had  been 
able  to  completely  reorganize  after  their 
voyage  from  India. 

Lord  French,  the  First  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  British  forces  on  the 
Western  front. 

The  full  story  of  the  Palestine  victory  still 
remained  to  be  told,  but  when  the  record 

OF  THAT  GLORIOUS  CAMPAIGN  WAS  UNFOLDED, 
ACROSS  THE  PAGE  OF  HISTORY  WOULD  BE  WRIT 
LARGE   THE   NAME   OF   INDIA. 
84 


THE  INDIAN  ARMY  AND  NAVY  8$ 

Lord  Chelmsford,  the  Governor- 
General  of  India,  on  September  26, 
1918. 

As  is  usual  in  our  history,  we  have 
triumphed  after  many  sad  blunders  and  in 
the  end  we  have  defeated  Turkey  almost 
single-handed,  though  our  main  forces  have 
throughout  the  war  been  engaged  with  another 
foe.  In  fact,  it  is  to  india  that  our 
recent  victory  is  due.  .  .  . 

Major  General  Sir  Frederick 
Maurice  in  The  New  York  Times, 
November  6,   19 18. 


The  present  Governor  of  the  Punjab  (his  precise 
designation  is  Lieutenant  Governor),  who  is  the  most 
reactionary,  self-complacent  and  conceited  of  all  the 
provincial  rulers  of  India,  has  in  the  course  of  his 
appeals  for  recruits  for  the  present  war  said  more 
than  once  that  the  right  of  self-government  carries 
with  it  the  responsibility  of  defending  the  country. 
The  distinguished  authors  of  the  Report  have  also 
remarked  in  one  place  that  so  long  as  the  duty  of 
defending  India  rests  on  Great  Britain,  the  British 
Parliament  must  control  the  Government  of  India. 
Now  let  us  see  what  the  facts  are. 

(1)  The  first  thing  to  be  remembered  in  this  con- 
nection is  that  during  the  whole  period  of  British  rule 
in  India,  not  a  penny  has  been  spent  by  Great  Britain 
for  Indian  defence.  The  defence  of  India  has  been 
well  provided  for  by  Indian  Revenues.  On  the  other 
hand  India  has  paid  millions  in  helping  Great  Britain 
not  only  in  defending  the  Empire,  but  in  extending 


86  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 


it.1  Whatever  protection  has  been  afforded  to  India 
by  the  British  Navy  —  and  that  has  by  no  means 
been  small  —  has  been  more  than  repaid  by  India's 
services  to  the  Empire  in  China,  Egypt,  South  Africa 
and  other  parts  of  the  world.  As  to  the  military  forces 
of  India,  they  consist  of  two  wings :  (a)  the  British  and 
(b)  the  Indian.  The  pre-war  Indian  army  consisted 
of  80,000  British  and  160,000  Indians.  Indian  public 
opinion  has  for  decades  been  protesting  against  the 
denial  to  Indians  of  officers'  commissions  in  the  Indian 
army,  as  also  against  the  strength  of  the  British  element 
therein.  Every  British  unit  of  the  Indian  army  from 
the  Field  Marshal  to  the  Tommy  is  paid  for  his  services 
by  India.  India  pays  for  these  services  not  only  during 
the  time  they  form  part  of  the  Indian  army  but  also 
for  their  training  and  equipment.  It  pays  all  their 
leave,  transfer  and  pension  charges.  It  even  pays  for 
whatever  provision  is  made  in  England  for  their 
medical  relief,  etc.  In  the  line  of  the  military  and 
naval  defence  of  India,  Great  Britain  has  not  done  as 
much  for  India  as  she  has  done  for  the  dominions  and 
self-governing  colonies.  Under  the  circumstances  it 
is  adding  insult  to  injury  to  insinuate  that  India  has 
in  any  way  shirked  the  duty  of  providing  for  her 
defence.  We  will  say  nothing  of  India's  services  during 
the  war. 

In  the  military  defence  of  India,  the  contribution  of 
the  Punjab  has  always  been  the  greatest.  If  the 
British  provinces  are  considered  singly,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  Punjab  has  been  supplying  the  largest 
number  of  units  for  the  Indian  army,  not  only  in  the 

^See  chapter  on  "  How  India  has  helped  England  make  her  Em- 
pire, "  in  England's  Debt  to  India,  by  the  present  author. 


THE  INDIAN  ARMY  AND  NAVY  87 

ranks  of  the  fighters,  but  also  in  the  ranks  of  auxiliaries. 

During  this  war,  too,   the  Punjab  made  the  largest 

contribution  of  both  combatants  and  non-combatants. 

I  Yet,  if  we  compare  the  civil  status  of  the  people  of  the 

'Punjab  with  that  of  other  provinces,  we  will  find  that 

'they  have  been  persistently  denied  equality  of  status 

;with    Bengal,    Bombay    and    Madras.     The    Punjab 

peasantry,  which  supplies  the  largest  number  of  soldiers 

to  the  army,  is  the  most  illiterate  and  ignorant  of  all 

"  the  classes  of  Indian  population.     Their  economic  and 

legal  position  may  better  be  studied  in  Mr.  Thorborn's 

I  The  Punjab  in  Peace  and  in  War.     The  Municipal  and 

Local  Boards  of  the  province  do  not  possess  as  much 

independence    as    has    been   conceded    in    the    other 

provinces.     The  judicial  administration  of  the  province 

is  as  antiquated  as  it  could  possibly  be  under  British 

rule.     Instead  of  a  High  Court  we  have  still  a  Chief 

court2     Captains  and  Majors  and   Colonels  are  still 

performing  judicial  functions  as  magistrates  and  judges,  j 

I  The  trial  by  jury  in  the  cases  of  Indians  is  unknown. 

Until  lately  the  Punjab  was  stamped  with  the  badge  of 

inferioity  by  being  called  a  non- Regulation  province. 

Even  in  this  report  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India 

and  the  Viceroy  have  spoken  of  it  as  a  backward 

province.,    It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  contribution 

of  the  Punjab  to  the  military  strength  of  the  Empire 

has  in  no   way  benefited   her   population  in  getting 

better  opportunities  for  civil  progress  or  greater  civil 

liberties.     But  recently  the  President  of  the  Punjab 

Provincial  Conference  uttered  hard  words  against  the 

Provincial  administration's  policy  of  repression  and 

coercion.     He  said  that  their  "cup  of  disappointment*. 

2  It  has  now  been  converted  into  a  High  Court. 


88  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

discontent  and  misery,  in  the  Punjab,  at  any  rate,  was 
full  to  overflowing." 

So  much  about  the  discharge  of  obligations  for 
military  defence  carrying  with  it  the  right  of  self- 
government.  The  Indians  have  no  desire  to  shirk 
their  responsibility  for  the  military  defence  of  India; 
nor  do  they  want  to  balk  their  contribution  to  the 
Imperial  defence.  Their  demands  in  this  respect  may 
be  thus  summarised: 

(i)    That  the  Indian  Army  should  be  mainly  officered 
by  the  Indians. 

(2)  That  as  much  as  is  possible  of  the  arms  and 

ammunition  equipment,  and  the  military 
stores  required  for  the  Indian  army  be  pro- 
duced in  India. 

(3)  That  the  strength  of  the   British  element  be 

considerably  reduced. 

(4)  That  the  nature  of  the  Indian  army,  which  is  at 

present  one  of  hired  soldiers,  be  converted  into 
that  of  a  National  Militia  with  a  small  stand- 
ing army  and  a  great  reserve. 

(5)  That  in  order  to  do  it,  some  kind  of  compulsory 

military  training  be  introduced.  All  young 
men  between  the  ages  of  17  and  21  may  be 
required  to  undergo  military  training  and  put 
in  at  least  one  year  of  military  service. 

(6)  That    as    a    preliminary    step    towards    it    the 

existing   Arms   Act   be   repealed   and,    under 
proper  safeguards,  the  people  be  allowed  to 
carry  and  possess  arms  in  peace  and  war,  so 
as  to  be  familiar  with  their  use. 
{7)   That  slowly  and  gradually,   as  funds  can   be 


THE  INDIAN  ARMY  AND  NAVY  89 

spared  from  the  other  demands  more  urgent 
and  pressing,  an  Indian  Navy  be  built. 

Having  explained  the  position  of  the  Indian  Nation- 
alist in  this  matter,  we  will  now  see  what  Mr.  Montagu 
and  Lord  Chelmsford  say  on  this  matter  in  their  report. 
In  Paragraph  328  they  state  the  "Indian  wishes"  and 
point  out  that  "for  some  years  Indian  politicians  have 
been  urging  the  right  of  Indians  in  general  to  bear 
arms  in  defence  of  their  country";  and  that  "we  have 
everywhere  met  a  general  demand  from  the  political 
leaders  for  extended  opportunities  for  military  service," 
but  that  the  subject  being  more  or  less  outside  the 
scope  of  their  enquiry  and  "requirements  of  the 
future"  being  dependent  "on  the  form  of  peace  which 
is  attained,"  they  "leave  this  question  for  consideration 
hereafter  with  the  note  that  it  must  be  faced  and  j 
settled." 

In  Paragraph  330  they  deal  with  the  question  of 
"British  Commissions  for  Indians." 

"The  announcement  of  his  Majesty's  Government 
that  'the  bar  which  has  hitherto  prevented  the  admis- 
sion of  Indians  to  commissioned  rank  in  His  Majesty's 
Army  should  be  removed'  has  established  the  principle 
that  the  Indian  soldier  can  earn  the  King's  commission 
by  his  military  conduct.  It  is  not  enough  merely  to 
assert  a  principle.  We  must  act  on  it.  The  services 
of  the  Indian  army  in  the  war  and  the  great  increase 
in  its  numbers  make  it  necessary  that  a  considerable 
number  of  commissions  should  now  be  given.  The 
appointments  made  so  far  have  been  few.  Other 
methods  of  appointment  have  not  yet  been  decided  on, 
but  we  are  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  grappling 
with  the  problem.  We  also  wish  to  establish  the 
principle  that  if  an  Indian  is  enlisted  as  a  private  in  a 


90  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

British  unit  of  His  Majesty's  Army  its  commissioned 
ranks  also  should  be  open  to  him." 

The   "other   methods   of   appointment"   that   have 
been  announced  since  the  report  was  signed  are  far 
from  satisfactory.     It  has  been  said  that  the  responsi- 
bility for  this  niggardly  policy  in  the  matter  of  admitting 
Indians  to  the  Commissioned  ranks  of  the  army  rests 
with    the    Home    Government    and    that    the   Indian 
Government's    recommendations     were     much     more 
liberal.     Now,  as  practical  men,  we  fully  realize  that  j 
for  some  time  to  come,  at  least  until  British  suspicion  ! 
of  India's  desire  to  get  out  of  the  Empire  is  completely  | 
removed  by  the  grant  of  responsible  government  to  ' 
India,  India's  military  policy  and  the  Indian  army  ■ 
must  be  controlled  by  the  British  executive.     On  that 
point  all  the  parties  in  India  are  agreed.     But  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  some  steps  be  at  once  taken 
to  remove  the  stigma  of  military  helplessness  from 
India's  forehead.     Let  the  British  retain  the  control 
/  and  the  command,  but  let  us  share  the  responsibility 
,  to  some  extent  and  let  our  young  men  be  trained  for 
*  the  future  defence  of  their  Motherland.     To  deprive 
them  of  all  means  of  doing  that,  to  charge  them  with 
neglect  of  that  paramount  duty  and  then  to  urge  it 
as  a  disqualification  of  civil  liberties,  is  hardly  fair. 


VIII 

THE  EUROPEAN  COMUNITY  IN  INDIA 

The  old  world,  at  least,  believed  in 
ideals.  It  believed  that  justice,  fair  play, 
liberty,  righteousness  must  triumph  in  the 
end;  that  is,  however  you  interpret  the 
phrase,  the  old  world  believed  in  God, 
\  and  it  staked  its  existence  on  that  belief. 
Millions  of  gallant  young  men  volunteered 
to  die  for  that  divine  faith.  But  if  wrong 
emerged  triumphant  out  of  this  conflict, 
the  new  world  would  feel  in  its  soul  that 
brute  force  alone  counted  in  the  govern- 
ment of  man;  and  the  hopelessness  of  the 
dark  ages  would  once  more  fall  on  the  earth 
like  a  cloud. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"No  Halfway  House."     Speech   delivered 
at  Gray's  Inn,  December  14,  191 7. 

A  whole  section  of  the  Report  has  been  devoted 
to  a  consideration  of  the  claims  of  the  European  Com- 
munity in  India.     It  is  said: 

"We  cannot  conclude  without  taking  into  due 
account  the  presence  of  a  considerable  community  of 
non-official  Europeans  in  India.  In  the  main  they  are 
engaged  in  commercial  enterprises;  but  besides  these 
are  the  missions,  European  and  American,  which  in 
furthering  education,  building  up   character,    and   in- 

91 


92  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

culcating  healthier  domestic  habits  have  done  work 
for  which  India  should  be  grateful.  There  are  also  an 
appreciable  number  of  retired  officers  and  others  whose 
working  life  has  been  given  to  India,  settled  in  the 
cooler  parts  of  the  country.  When  complaints  are 
rife  that  European  commercial  interests  are  selfish 
and  drain  the  country  of  wealth  which  it  ought  to 
retain,  it  is  well  to  remind  ourselves  how  much  of  India's 
material  prosperity  is  due  to  European  commerce." 
[The  italics  are  ours]. 

We  have  no  desire  to  raise  a  controversy  over  the 
assumption  which  underlies  the  last  statement  in  the 
above  extract.  The  authors  are  themselves  cognizant 
of  it  when  they  remark,  later  on,  that  the  "  benefit " 
which  India  has  received  by  her  commercial  develop- 
ment in  European  hands  is  "not  less  because  it  wasj 
incidental  and  not  the  purpose  of  the  undertaking."! 
These  are  matters  on  which  the  Indian  Nationalist 
may  well  hold  his  own  opinion  and  yet  endorse  the 
spirit  of  the  following  observations: 

"  Clearly  it  is  the  duty  of  British  Commerce  in  India 
to  identify  itself  with  the  interests  of  India,  which  are 
higher  than  the  interests  of  any  community;  to  take 
part  in  political  life;  to  use  its  considerable  wealth 
and  opportunities  to  commend  itself  to  India;  and 
having  demonstrated  both  its  value  and  its  good 
intentions,  to  be  content  to  rest  like  other  industries 
on  the  new  foundation  of  Government  in  the  wishes  of 
the  people.  No  less  is  it  the  wish  of  Indian  politicians 
to  respect  the  expectations  which  have  been  implicitly 
held  out;  to  remember  how  India  has  profited  by 
commercial  development  which  only  British  capital 
and  enterprise  achieved;  to  bethink  themselves  that 
though  the  capital  invested  in  private  enterprises  was 
not  borrowed  under  any  assurance  that  the  existing 
form  of  government  would  endure,  yet  the  favourable 


THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITY  IN  INDIA  93 

terms  on  which  money  was  obtained  for  India's  develop- 
ment were  undoubtedly  affected  by  the  fact  of  British 
rule;  and  to  abstain  from  advocating  differential 
treatment  aimed  not  so  much  at  promoting  Indian  as 
at  injuring  British  commerce." 

We  must  say  that  the  last  insinuation  is  perfectly 
gratuitous.  Nor  is  it  correct  to  say  even  by  implica- 
tion that  the  non-official  European  community  has 
hitherto  abstained  from  taking  part  in  politics.  The 
fact  is  that  Indian  politics  have  hitherto  been  too 
greatly  dominated  by  the  British  merchant  both  at 
home  and  in  India.  The  British  merchant  doing 
business  in  India  had  to  submit  to  the  prior  claims  of 
the  British  manufacturers  in  Great  Britain  in  matters 
in  which  their  interests  did  not  coincide,  but  otherwise 
their  interests  received  the  greatest  possible  attention 
from  the  Government  of  India.  In  proportion  to  their 
incomes  derived  from  India  by  the  employment  of 
Indian  labour  on  terms  more  or  less  guaranteed  to 
them  by  the  Indian  Government's  special  legislation 
they  have  made  the  smallest  possible  contribution  to 
the  Indian  Revenues;  yet  they  have  been  the  greatest 
^possible  hindrance  in  the  development  of  Indian 
^liberties.  They  have  all  the  time  owned  a  powerful 
press  which  has  employed  all  the  resources  of  education 
and  enlightenment,  all  the  powers  of  manipulating 
facts  and  figures  in  maintaining  and  strengthening 
the  rule  of  autocracy  in  the  country.  We  do  not 
propose  to  open  these  wounds.  But  we  cannot  help 
remarking  that  so  far  they  have  exercised  quite  a 
disproportionate  influence  in  the  decisions  of  the 
Government  of  India.  Those  of  them  who  are  domi- 
ciled in  the  country  are  our  brothers  and  no  Indian 


94  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

has  the  least  desire  to  do  anything  that  will  harm 
them  in  any  way.  Their  importance  must,  in  future, 
be  determined  not  by  their  race  or  colour  or  creed  but 
by  their  numbers,  their  education  and  their  position 
in  the  economic  life  of  the  country.  They  must  no 
longer  lord  it  over  the  Indians  simply  because  they 
are  of  European  descent.  They  should  claim  no 
preferences  or  exemptions  because  of  that  fact.  As 
an  integral  part  of  the  Indian  body  politic  they  are 
entitled  to  all  the  consideration  which  they  deserve 
by  virtue  of  their  intellectual  or  economic  position. 
They  should  henceforth  be  Indo-British  both  in  spirit 
and  in  name.  They  will  find  the  Indians  quite  ready 
to  forget  the  past  and  embrace  them  as  brothers  for 
the  common  prosperity  of  their  joint  country. 

As  regards  the  other  European  merchants  who  are 
not  domiciled  in  India  but  are  there  just  to  make 
money  and  return  to  spend  it  in  their  native  land, 
they  are  no  more  entitled  to  any  place  in  the  political 
machinery  of  the  Indian  Government  than  the  Hindus 
who  trade  in  the  United  States  or  in  England.  So 
far  every  European,  of  whatever  nationality  he  might 
be,  has  occupied  a  position  of  privilege  in  India.  He 
was  granted  rights  which  were  denied  to  the  sons  of 
the  soil.  Every  German  or  Austrian  or  Bulgarian 
could  keep  or  carry  any  number  and  kind  of  arms  he 
wanted  without  any  license,  while  the  natives  of 
India,  even  of  the  highest  position,  could  not  do  so 
unless  exempted  either  by  virtue  of  their  rank  or  by 
the  favour  of  the  Administration.  Jews  and  Ar 
menians,  Turks  and  Russians,  Scandinavians,  Danes 
Italians  and  Swiss  all  enjoyed  the  privilege.  When 
charged  with  any  serious  offence  punishable  by  im 


y 


THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITY  IN  INDIA  95 

prisonment  for  more  than  six  months,  they  could  claim 
trial  by  a  jury  having  a  majority  of  Europeans  on  it, 

.  while  no  Indian  outside  the  Presidency  towns  of  Bom- 

J  bay,  Calcutta  and  Madras  had  that  right.  Even  there, 
the  jury  trying  an  Indian  could  include  a  majority 
of  Europeans.  In  the  famous  trial  of  Mr.  B.  G. 
Tilak  in  1908,  the  jury  was  composed  of  seven  Euro- 

!  peans  and  two  Parsees.  It  is  obvious  that  these 
discriminations  in  favour  of  the  Europeans  must  cease 
and  that  no  European  not  domiciled  in  India  should 
enjoy  a  position  of  special  privilege.  Indians  are 
noted  for  their  hospitality  and  chivalry.  Their  own 
codes  of  honor  effectively  prevent  them  from  doing 
any  harm  or  injury  to  a  foreigner.  Every  European 
doing  business  in  India  or  on  any  other  errand  is  a 
guest  of  honor  and  entitled  to  that  treatment,  pro- 

1  vided  he  does  not  assume  racial  superiority  and  look 
down  upon  the  people  of  the  country  and  take  ad- 
vantage of  their  being  subjects  of  a  European  power. 

-No  Indian  will  be  so  foolish  as  to  injure  the  com- 
mercial development  of  his  country  by  scaring  the 
foreign  trader  or  the  foreign  capitalist.  All  that 
he  wants  is  freedom  to  lay  down  the  terms  on  which 
that  trade  will  be  carried  on  consistently  with  the 
interests  of  India's  millions.  What  he .  stands  for  is 
equality  and  reciprocity.  As  other  peoples  are  free 
to  name  the  conditions  on  which  the  foreign  trader 
may  do  business  in  their  countries,  so  must  the  Indians 
be.  Nothing  more  and  nothing  less  than  this  is  de- 
manded. 

As  regards  the  citizens  of  the  British  Empire  also, 
the  same  right  of  reciprocity  is  demanded.  We  are 
glad  that  the  representatives  of  the  Dominions  have 


96  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

recognized   the  justice   of  that   claim   and   expressed 
their  willingness  to  concede  it. 

Coming  to  the  Missions,  European  and  American, 
the  advice  given  is  rather  gratuitous.  The  Indians 
have  left  nothing  undone  to  show  their  gratitude  to 
them  for  the  good  work  done  by  them  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  they,  too,  in  the  past,  have  not  hesitated  to 
use  the  fact  of  their  race  and  colour  for  the  benefit 
of  their  propaganda.  The  person  of  a  religious  man  is 
sacred  in  the  eyes  of  an  Indian,  regardless  of  his  par- 
ticular creed.  The  Christian  missionary  has  so  far 
enjoyed  a  unique  position  of  safety  and  freedom  in 
the  country  even  to  a  greater  extent  than  the  Hindu 
or  the  Moslem  priest.  The  latter  have  often  quarrelled 
amongst  themselves,  but  the  former  they  have  always 
respected  and  honored.  There  is  absolutely  no  reason 
to  think  that  this  is  likely  to  change  in  any  way  by  the 
grant  of  political  liberty  to  the  Indians. 

It  is  possible,  however,  that,  with  the  growth  of  free 
thought  in  India,  religious  teachers  of  all  denominations 
may  not  continue  to  be  the  recipients  of  the  same 
honour  as  has  been  paid  to  them  in  the  past  by  virtue 
of  their  religious  office.     Dogmatic  religion,  whether 
be  Hinduism,  Mohammedanism  or  Christianity  is  in 
state  of  decay.     In  that  respect  India  is  feeling  th 
reaction  of  world  forces  and  no  amount  of  politic 
coercion  or  repression  can  stop  it.     In   my  humbl 
judgment  the  average  Indian  has  thus  far  been  more 
tolerant    of    and   more   considerate   to   the    Christian 
missionary  than  the  latter  has  been  to  the  Indian. 
Even  in  the  matter  of  gratitude  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary may  with  advantage  learn  from  the  Hindu 
The  instances  are  not  rare  in  which  all  the  hospitality 


' 


THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITY  IN  INDIA  97 

respect  and  honor  which  a  Christian  missionary  has 
received  during  his  stay  in  India  have  been  repaid  by 
the  latter's  freely  traducing  the  character  of  the 
Indians  in  his  home  land.  To  no  small  degree  is 
the  Christian  missionary  responsible  for  the  feeling  of 
contempt  with  which  the  Indian  is  looked  down  upon 
in  America  and  other  countries  of  the  West.  We  do 
not  object  to  his  speaking  the  truth,  but  it  is  not  the 
truth  that  he  always  speaks.  Of  gratitude,  at  least, 
he  gives  no  evidence. 

The  European  Community  in  India  is  divided  into  two  classes: 
(a)  pure  Europeans,  who  number  a  little  less  than  200,000  in  the 
total  population  of  315,000,000.  (178,908  in  the  British  provinces 
and  20,868  in  the  native  States.) 

(b)  Anglo-Indians,  hitherto  called  Eurasians,  who  number  about 
83,000  (68,612  in  British  territories  and  15,045  in  the  Native  States). 
Thus  the  whole  European  community  in  India  is  less  than  300,000. 


IX 
THE   NATIVE   STATES 

The  Native  States  of  India  constitute  one  of  the 
anomalies  of  Indian  political  life.  They  are  the  honored 
remnants  of  the  old  order  of  things  —  an  order  in  which 
personal  bravery,  resourcefulness  and  leadership  with 
or  without  capacity  for  successful  intrigue  enabled 
individuals  to  carve  out  kingdoms  and  principalities 
for  themselves  and  their  legal  successors. 

In  the  case  of  some  of  these  Native  States  the 
genealogies  of  the  ruling  houses  go  back  to  the  early 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era  by  historical  evidence 
and  to  pre-Christian  times  by  tradition.  Their  origin 
is  somewhat  shrouded  in  mystery.  In  popular  belief 
they  are  the  descendants  of  gods  —  gods  of  light  and 
life,  the  Sun  and  the  Moon.  Next  to  the  Royal 
family  of  Japan,  they  are  perhaps  the  only  houses 
among  the  rulers  of  the  earth  which  can  claim  such  an 
ancient  and  unbroken  lineage  of  royalty  with  sover- 
eignty of  one  kind  or  another  always  vested  in  them. 
There  have  been  times  in  their  history  when  the 
royal  heads  of  these  states  had  no  house  to  live  in  and| 
no  bed  to  sleep  on,  much  less  a  territory  to  rule  and  an! 
army  to  command.  This  was,  however,  a  part  of 
their  royalty.  In  struggles  against  powerful  enemies, 
sometimes  of  their  own  race  and  religion,  but  more  j 
often  foreign  aggressors  of  different  blood  and  creed,  j 

q8 


THE  NATIVE   STATES  99 

they  were  many  a  time  worsted  and  driven  to  extreme 
straits  of  poverty  and  helplessness.  In  peace  or  in 
war,  in  prosperity  or  in  misery,  they  never  gave  up  the 
struggle.  Their  right  to  lead  their  people  and  to  rule 
their  country  they  never  yielded  for  a  moment.  It  is 
true  that  sometimes  they  submitted  to  the  superior 
power  of  the  enemy  and  accepted  a  position  of  sub- 
ordination, though  in  one  case,  at  least,  even  this  was 
done  only  for  a  short  time  under  the  Moguls.  In  the 
darker  days  of  Indian  history,  when  the  military 
devastation  of  foreign  invaders  left  nothing  but  tears 
and  blood,  ruin  and  ashes,  defeat  and  misery  in  their 
track,  these  houses  kept  the  lamp  of  hope  burning. 
For  full  ten  centuries  they  carried  on  a  struggle  of  life 
and  death,  sometimes  momentarily  succumbing  before 
the  overwhelming  force  of  their  adversaries,  but  only 
to  rise  again  in  fresh  vigor  and  life  to  reclaim  their 
heritage  and  preserve  their  own  and  their  country's 
independence. 

The  Sessodias  of  Mewar  called  the  Ranas  of  Mewar 
(Udaipur)  and  the  Rahtores  of  Marwar  (including 
Jodhpur,  Bikaner,  Rutlam,  Kishangarh  and  Alwar) 
have  written  many  a  glorious  page  of  Mediaeval  Indian 
history  and  dyed  it  with  their  own  blood  as  well  as 
that  of  their  adversaries.  Not  only  their  men  but 
their  women  have  made  themselves  immortal  by  their 
bravery,  chivalry,  purity  and  self-immolation.  The 
one  thing  which  distinguishes  the  Indian  Rajput  from 
the  peoples  of  other  lands  is  that  he  has  never  waged 

J  war  against  the  poor,  the  helpless  and  the  defenceless. 

-  Numberless  men  gave  their  lives  freely  and  ungrudgingly 
not  only  in  protecting  the  lives  of  their  own  women 
and  children  but  also  in  doing  the  same  service  to  the 


IOO  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

women  and  children  of  their  enemies.  The  Rajput 
never  fought  an  unfair  fight.  He  never  took  advantage 
of  the  helplessness  of  his  enemy  and  always  gave  him 
right  of  way  and  the  use  of  his  best  weapons  for  a  free 
and  fair  fight  in  the  open.  Anyone  desirous  of  knowing 
their  deeds  may  read  them  in  that  poem  in  prose, 
known  as  the  Annals  of  Rajhasthan  by  Col.  Todd,  j 
Col.  Todd  has  drawn  a  most  faithful  and  thrilling 
picture  of  Rajput  bravery  and  Rajput  chivalry  in  a 
language  worthy  of  the  best  traditions  of  English 
literature.  Here  and  there  in  matters  of  minor  details 
his  authority  has  been  questioned;  otherwise  the 
results  of  his  monumental  labors  still  remain  the  best 
picture  of  Rajput  India.  The  Rajput  States  of  India 
are  thus  the  objects  of  reverent  honor  to  the  220 
million  Hindus  of  that  country.  Next  to  the  Rajput 
States  comes  the  native  ruling  family  of  Mysore  as 
the  representative  of  a  very  ancient  Hindu  Kingdom. 
The  Mahratta  States  are  the  remnants  of  the  Mahratta 
Empire  and  the  Sikhs  those  of  the  Sikh  Commonwealth. ; 
The  biggest  of  all  the  Indian  Native  States,  Hyderabad, ! 
arose  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  Mogul  Empire  and  is 
supposed  to  be  the  most  powerful  guardian  of  Moslem 
culture  and  tradition.  From  this  description  the 
reader  will  at  once  see  why  the  Native  States  are  so 
dear  to  the  peoples  of  India  and  why  the  Indian  edu- 
cated party  has  always  stood  by  the  Native  States, 
whenever  either  their  treaty  rights  or  the  personal 
dignity  and  status  of  their  chiefs  was  threatened  by 
the  British  authorities.  Lord  Dalhousie's  policy  of 
annexation  by  lapse  was  so  much  resented  by  the 
people  of  India  that  it  had  almost  cost  the  British 
their  Indian  Empire.     Only  in  the  Native  States  do 


Tflfe  NATIVE  STATES  ,  . ,  j  IOI 

the  Indians  see  remaining  traces  of  their  former  inde- 
pendence.    That  fact  alone  covers  all  the  defects  of 
;  native  rule  or  misrule  in  the   States,  in  their  eyes. 
Some  of  these  Native  States  have  been  so  well  admin- 
istered that  in  education,  social  reform  and  industrial 
advancement  they  are  far  ahead  of  the  neighboring 
British  territories.     But  their  chief  merit  lies  in  the 
j  fact  that  ordinarily  the  people  get  enough  food  to  eat 
I  and    are    seemingly    happier    than    British    subjects. 
This    fact    has    been    noticed    by    several    competent 
observers   of   contemporary  Indian  life,  among  them 
the   Right   Honorable    Mr.    Fisher,    President   of   the 
Board  of   Education  in  England.      In  his  book   Thet 
Empire  and  the  Future  he  has  observed: 

"My  impression  is  that  the  inhabitants  of  a  well 
governed  native  state  are  on  the  whole  happier  and  more 
contented  than  the  inhabitants  of  British  India.  They 
are  more  lightly  taxed;  the  pace  of  the  administration  is 
less  urgent  and  exacting;  their  sentiment  is  gratified  by 
the  splendor  of  a  native  court  and  by  the  dominion  of 
an  Indian  government.  They  feel  that  they  do  things 
for  themselves  instead  of  having  everything  done  for 
them  by  a  cold  and  alien  benevolence."  (Italics 
are  ours) 

But  after  all  that  is  favourable  to  the  Native  States 
of  India  has  been  said,  their  existence  in  their  present 
form    remains    a    political    anomaly.     As    at    present 

(situated,  they  are  an  effective  hindrance  to  complete 
Indian  unity.  Although  "  India  is  in  fact  as  well  as 
by  legal  definition,  one  geographical  whole,"  yet  these 
Native  States,  occupying  about  one-third  of  the  total 
area  of  the  country  and  with  a  population  of  about 
70  million  will,  for  a  long  time,  prevent  its  becoming 


102  ,     JTHE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  £>F  INDIA 

a  homogeneous  political  whole.  Thus  a  circumstance 
which  was  hitherto  looked  upon  as  a  piece  of  good 
luck  will  operate  as  a  misfortune. 

"The  Native  States  of  India  are  about  700  in  number. 
They  embrace  the  widest  variety  of  country  and 
jurisdiction.  They  vary  in  size  from  petty  States  like 
Rewa,  in  Rajputana,  with  an  area  of  19  square  miles, 
and  the  Simla  Hill  States,  which  are  little  more  than 
small  holdings,  to  States  like  Hyderabad,  as  large  as 
Italy,  with  a  population  of  thirteen  millions."  1 

The  general  position  as  regards  the  rights  and 
obligations  of  the  Native  States  has  been  thus  summed 
up  by  the  distinguished  authors  of  the  joint  Report 
(Lord  Chelmsford  and  Mr.  Montagu): 

"The  States  are  guaranteed  security  from  without; 
the  paramount  power  acts  for  them  in  relation  to 
foreign  powers  and  other  States,  and  it  intervenes 
when  the  internal  peace  of  their  territories  is  seriously 
threatened.  On  the  other  hand  the  States'  relations 
to  foreign  powers  are  those  of  the  paramount  power; 
they  share  the  obligation  for  the  common  defence; 
and  they  are  under  a  general  responsibility  for  the 
good  government  and  welfare  of  their  territories. " 

As  regards  the  assimilation  of  the  principles  of 
modern  life,  it  is  remarked  in  the  same  document: 

"Many  of  them  have  adopted  our  civil  and  criminal 
codes.  Some  have  imitated  and  even  further  extended 
our  educational  system.  .  .  .  They  have  not  all  been 
equally  able  to  assimilate  new  principles.  They  are 
in  all  stages  of  development,  patriarchal,  feudal  or 
more  advanced,  while  in  a  few  states  are  found  the 
beginnings  of  representative  institutions.  The  char- 
acteristic features  of  all  of  them,  however,  including 

1  The  Indian  Year  Book  for  1918,  p.  81. 


THE  ^NATIVE   STATES  103 

the  most  advanced,  are  the-  personal  rule  of •  the  Prince 
and  his  control  over  legislation  and  the  administration 
of  justice. " 

Under  the  circumstances  the  question  of  questions 
is  how  these  territories  are  going  to  fall  into  line  with 
the  British  controlled  area  in  the  matter  of  the  develop- 
ment of  responsible  Government.  We  will  once  more 
quote  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India 
and  the  Viceroy,  who  say: 

"We  know  that  the  States  cannot  be  unaffected  by 
constitutional  development  in  adjoining  provinces. 
Some  of  the  more  enlightened  and  thoughtful  of  the 
Princes,  among  whom  are  included  some  of  the  best 
known  names,  have  realised  this  truth,  and  have  them- 
selves raised  the  question  of  their  own  share  in  any 
scheme  of  reform.  Others  of  the  Princes  —  again 
including  some  of  the  most  honored  names  —  desire 
only  to  leave  matters  as  they  are.  We  feel  the  need 
for  caution  in  this  matter.  It  would  be  a  strange 
reward  for  loyalty  and  devotion  to  force  new  ideas 
upon  those  who  did  not  desire  them;  but  it  would  be 
no  less  strange,  if  out  of  consideration  for  those  who 
perhaps  represent  gradually  vanishing  ideas,  we  were 
to  refuse  to  consider  the  suggestions  of  others  who 
have  been  no  less  loyal  and  devoted.  Looking  ahead 
to  the  future  we  can  picture  India  to  ourselves  only 
as  presenting  the  external  semblance  to  some  form  of 
'federation.'  The  provinces  will  ultimately  become 
self-governing  units,  held  together  by  the  central 
Government  which  will  deal  solely  with  matters  of 
common  concern  to  all  of  them.  But  the  matters 
common  to  the  British  provinces  are  also  to  a  great 
extent  those  in  which  the  Native  States  are  interested 
—  defence,  tariffs,  exchange,  opium,  salt,  railways 
and  posts  and  telegraphs.  The  gradual  concentration 
of  the  Government  of  India  upon  such  matters  will 
therefore  make  it  easier  for  the  States,  while  retaining 


104  THE   POLITICAL   FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

the  autonomy  which  the}'  cherish  in  internal  matters, 
to  enter  into  closer  association  with  the  central  Govern- 
ment if  they  wish  to  do  so.  But  though  we  have 
no  hesitation  in  forecasting  such  a  development  as 
possible,  the  last  thing  that  we  desire  is  to  attempt  to 
force  the  pace.  Influences  are  at  work  which  need  no 
artificial  stimulation.  All  that  we  need  or  can  do  is 
to  open  the  door  to  the  natural  developments  of  the 
future." 

In  Paragraphs  302  to  305  the  authors  of  the  Report 
state  the  process  by  which  this  development  may  be 
expedited.  Disavowing  any  intention  of  forcibly 
altering  treaty  rights,  they  propose  to  classify  the 
States  into  (a)  those  that  have  "full  authority  over 
their  internal  affairs,"  (b)  those  "in  which  Government 
exercises  through  its  Agents  large  powers  of  internal 
control,"  (c)  those  who  are  really  no  more  "than  mere 
owners  of  a  few  acres  of  land."  It  is  further  pointed 
out  that  hitherto  the 

"general  clause  which  occurs  in  many  of  the  treaties 
to  the  effect  that  the  Chief  shall  remain  absolute  Ruler 
of  his  country  has  not  in  the  past  precluded  and  does 
not  even  now  preclude  '  interference  with  the  admin- 
istration by  Government  through  the  agency  of  its 
representatives  at  the  Native  Courts.'  We  need  hardly 
say  that  such  interference  has  not  been  employed  in 
wanton  disregard  of  treaty  obligations.  During  the 
earlier  days  of  our  intimate  relations  with  the  States 
British  agents  found  themselves  compelled,  often 
against  their  will,  to  assume  responsibility  for  the 
welfare  of  the  people,  to  restore  order  out  of  chaos, 
to  prevent  inhuman  practices,  and  to  guide  the  hands 
of  a  weak  or  incompetent  Ruler  as  the  only  alternative 
to  the  termination  of  his  rule.  So  too,  at  the  present 
day,  the  Government  of  India  acknowledges  as  trustee, 
a  responsibility  (which  the  Princes  themselves  desire 


THE   NATIVE   STATES  105 

to  maintain)  for  the  proper  administration  of  States 
during  a  minority,  and  also  an  obligation  for  the 
prevention  or  correction  of  flagrant  misgovernment." 

And  also  that: 

"the  position  hitherto  taken  up  by  Government  has 
been  that  the  conditions  under  which  some  of  the 
treaties  were  executed  have  undergone  material  changes, 
and  the  literal  fulfilment  of  particular  obligations  which 
they  impose  has  become  impracticable.  Practice  has 
been  based  on  the  theory  that  treaties  must  be  read  as 
a  whole,  and  that  they  must  be  interpreted  in  the  light 
of  the  relation  established  between  the  parties  not 
only  at  the  time  when  a  particular  treaty  was  made, 
but  subsequently." 

On  these  grounds  it  is  proposed  to  establish  a  Council 
of  Princes  to  which  questions  which  affect  the  States 
generally  or  are  of  concern  to  the  Empire  as  a  whole, 
or  to  British  India  and  the  States  in  common,  may  be 
referred  for  advice  and  opinion.  So  long  as  the  Princes 
do  not  intervene  either  formally  or  informally  in  the 
internal  affairs  of  British  India,  we  have  no  objection 
to  the  scheme.  On  the  other  hand,  we  do  hope  some 
method  will  be  found  by  which,  with  the  consent 
of  the  parties  interested  the  smaller  principalities 
scattered  all  over  the  country  may,  for  administrative 
purposes,  be  merged  either  in  the  British  area  or  in 
the  bigger  Native  States  which  possess  full  power  of 
autonomy  over  their  internal  affairs.  In  the  long  run 
it  will  be  comparatively  easy  to  convert  the  latter  to 
an  acceptance  of  the  modern  principles  of  government 
if  the  number  of  Native  States  is  reduced  and  their 
people  achieve  that  solidarity  which  comes  by  com- 
munity of  interests  and  ideas.  In  this  connection 
it  is  a  happy  augury  for  the  future  that  some  of  the 


106  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

highest  Chiefs  like  those  of  Mysore,  Baroda,  Gwaliar, 
Indore,  Kashmir,  Bikaner,  Jodhpore,  Alwar,  and 
Patiala  are  alive  to  the  importance  of  marching  with 
the  times.  The  people  of  British  India  owe  them  a 
great  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  moral  support  they 
have  given  to  their  claim  for  responsible  Government 
by  coming  out  openly  and  freely  in  favour  of  the 
proposed  advance.  We  are  sure  that  these  Princes 
will  in  due  time  take  measures  to  bring  their  own 
territories  in  line  with  the  British  provinces  and  thus 
strengthen  the  ties  that  bind  them  to  their  own  peoples 
as  well  as  to  the  other  people  of  India.  After  all, 
there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt,  as  the  authors  of 
the  report  predict, 

"that  the  processes  at  work  in  British  India  cannot 
leave  the  States  untouched  and  must  in  time  affect 
even  those  whose  ideas  and  institutions  are  of  the 
most  conservative  and  feudal  character." 

It  is  the  path  of  wisdom  and  sagacity  to  recognise 
the  world  forces  that  are  at  work.  No  amount  of 
ancient  prestige  can  prevent  the  people  from  coming 
into  their  own.  The  age  of  despotism  is  gone  and  the 
autocrats  of  today  must  sooner  or  later  hand  over 
their  powers  to  the  people.  The  more  they  conciliate 
them  the  longer  perhaps  they  may  be  able  to  lead 
them.  They  may  continue  as  leaders  for  a  long  time, 
but  as  autocratic  dispensers  of  favours  and  fortunes 
they  cannot  remain,  perhaps  not  even  for  their  life 
time. 

In  our  judgment  this  part  of  the  Montagu-Chelmsford 
Report  is  no  less  important  for  the  future  of  Indian 
democracy   than   the   others   that   directly  deal   with 


THE   NATIVE   STATES  107 

British  India,  and  we  hope  that  whatever  might  be 
the  policy  as  regards  the  existing  States  the  new  law 
will  make  it  impossible  for  the  Government  of  India 
;  and  the  Secretary  of  State  to  create  any  new  States  in 
I  the  future.  It  is  monstrous  to  transfer  millions  of 
'  human  beings  from  one  kind  of  political  rule  to  another 
I  like  so  many  cattle,  as  was  done  in  iqii.  The  present 
rule  of  any  Indian  Maharaja  may  be  as  good  or  as  bad 
as  that  of  a  British  Governor  or  Lieutenant  Governor, 
but  the  latter  has  in  it  greater  democratic  potentialities 
than  the  former,  for  the  mere  fact,  if  for  no  other,  that, 
while  the  British  are  more  or  less  amenable  to  world 
opinion,  the  rulers  of  Native  States  are  not.  It  is 
inhuman,  and  not  in  accord  with  modern  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong  to  reward  somebody's  loyalty  by 
giving  him  power  of  life  and  death  over  numerous 
fellow  beings,  otherwise  than  in  due  course  of  law. 
Even  the  mighty  British  Government  is  not  the  owner 
of  the  bodies  and  souls  of  its  subjects  in  India.  How, 
then,  can  it  assume  the  right  of  abandoning  them  to 
the  absolute  rule  of  a  single  individual,  however 
worthy  or  loyal  he  may  be?  We  hope  this  stupid  way 
of  rewarding  loyal  services  may  be  ended  by  an  express 
provision  to  that  effect  in  the  statute  which  will  be 
passed  relating  to  the  reorganization  of  the  Government 
of  India. 

In  this  connection  the  following  observations  made 
in  a  leading  editorial  of  the  Servant  of  India,  Poona 
(February  16,  1919),  are  worthy  of  attention: 

"A  hundred  years  ago,  it  was  decidedly  in  the 
interests  of  British  rule,  and  probably  also  in  the 
interests  of  the  people  of  India  generally,  that  the  small, 
ill-governed,    and   eternally   fighting   states    of   India 


108  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

should  come  under  the  suzerainty  of  a  single  powerful 
power.     It  may  be  regarded  as  a  historical  misfortune 
that  this  power  happened  then  to  be  foreign,  though 
many  regard  this  contact  with  a  virile  civilization  as 
the  making  of  India.     This  suzerainty  could  then  be 
established  duly  by  entering  into  treaties  with  these 
states  and  guaranteeing  them  certain  rights  and  privi- 
leges.    But  these  treaties  have  now  assumed  in  the 
eyes  of  the  descendants  of  the  original  princes  an  air  of 
inspiration;    they  have  become  a  kind  of  perpetuity. 
They  always  come  in  the  way  of  any  improvement. 
When  any  new  policy  is  proposed  to  them,  they  are 
always  prepared  to  say,   'This  is  not  in  the  bond.' 
One  may  be  allowed  to  speculate  as  to  how  many  of 
these  Highnesses  would  have  survived  to  this  day  to 
put  forward  this  claim  in  the  absence  of  the  suzerain 
power.      Thrones  in   ancient   days   were   as   unstable 
as  they  are  becoming  now  in  Europe.     It  is  hardly 
possible   that   the   present   popular   wave   in   Europe 
would    not    have    touched    our    Native    States.     The 
subjects  of  the  states   would  have   clamoured  for  a 
recognition  of  their  rights,  and  they  would  have  had 
their   way.     But   now  the  princes  feel  quite  secure. 
Have  they  not  got  their  treaties?     As  a  result  there 
is  no  political  life  at  all  in  the  Native  States.     The 
most  ardent  advocate  of  Home  Rule  would  be  most 
violently  against  migration  to  a  Native  State.     The 
real  problem  of  the  Native  States  is  how  to  get  over 
the  treaties  when  they  conflict  with  the  interests  of 
their  subjects.     The  questions  discussed  at  the  Chiefs' 
Conference  leave  us  comparatively  cold,  as  they  entirely 
neglect  the  people  most  concerned.     The  questions  of 
the  rights  of  the  chiefs  and  their  salutes  or  precedence 


THE   NATIVE   STATES  IO9 

are  in  our  opinion  of  a  very  secondary  importance. 
A  renowned  statesman  in  Europe  gave  at  the  utmost 
a  life  of  a  dozen  years  to  the  most  solemn  treaty 
between  two  countries,  for  in  that  period  circumstances 
alter  and  the  solid  foundation  for  the  treaty  cracks. 
Is  it  not  high  time  that  the  treaties  with  the  chiefs 
fehould  be  revised  after  over  a  hundred  years?  It 
'would  indeed  redound  to  their  credit  if  the  chiefs  them- 
selves come  forward  to  submit  to  such  readjustment. 
Perhaps  their  autocratic  and  irresponsible  power  may*' 
have  to  suffer  some  diminution.  But  if  they  consent 
to  that  diminution  so  as  to  give  it  to  their  subjects  in 
the  modern  democratic  spirit,  the  real  power  and 
influence  of  the  Native  States  will  increase  incalculably. 
It  is  in  this  direction  we  wish  to  see  a  solution  of  the 
problem  of  the  Native  States  which  are  nowadays 
working  as  a  brake  on  our  national  progress." 


X 

,     THE   PROPOSALS 

There  are  epochs  in  the  history  of  the 

world    when    in    a   few   raging   years   the 

character,  the  destiny,  of  the  whole  race  is 

determined  for  unknown  ages.     This  is  one. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"  Sowing  the  Winter  Wheat."  Speech 
delivered  at  Carnarvon,  to  a  meeting  of 
constituents,  after  becoming  Prime  Min- 
ister, February  3,  1917. 

Part  II  of  the  Report  contains  the  scheme  which 
Mr.  Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford  propose  for  the 
solution  of  the  problem  which  they  had  set  themselves 
to  solve  in  Part  I.  In  giving  their  reasons  for  a  new 
policy  they  observe: 

"No  further  development  (on  old  lines)  is  possible 
unless  we  are  going  to  give  the  people  of  India  some 
responsibility  for  their  own  government.  But  no  one 
can  imagine  that  no  further  development  is  necessary. 
It  is  evident  that  the  present  machinery  of  government 
no  longer  meets  the  needs  of  the  time;  it  works  slowly  and 
it  produces  irritation;  there  is  a  widespread  demand 
on  the  part  of  educated  Indian  opinion  for  its  altera- 
tion; and  the  need  for  advance  is  recognised  by  official 
opinion  also."     [Italics  are  ours.] 

The  new  policy  sketched  by  them  is,  in  their  judg- 
ment,   "the   logical    outcome   of    the   past.     Indians 


THE  PROPOSALS  III 

must  be  enabled,  in  so  far  as  they  attain  responsibility, 
to  determine  for   themselves    what    they  want   done 

".  .  .  such  limitations  on  powers  as  we  are  now 
proposing  are  due  only  to  the  obvious  fact  that  time  is 
necessary  in  order  to  train  both  representatives  and 
electorates  for  the  work  which  we  desire  them  to 
undertake;  and  that  we  offer  Indians  opportunities  at, 
short  intervals  to  prove  the  progress  they  are  making 
and  to  make  good  their  claim,  not  by  the  method  of 
agitation  but  by  positive  demonstration,  to  the  further 
stages  in  self-government  which  we  have  just  indi- 
cated." 

That  is  the  only  basis  on  which  they  maintain  they 
can  hope  to  see  in  India  "the  growth  of  a  conscious 
feeling  of  organic  unity  with  the  Empire  as  a  whole." 
With  these  and  a  few  more  prefatory  remarks  about 
the  educational  problem  and  the  attitude  of  the  ryot 
and  the  enunciation  of  the  general  principles  on  which 
their  proposals  are  based  they  proceed  to  formulate 
their  scheme,  starting  first  with  the  provinces. 


The  proposals  relating  to  Provincial  Government 
may  be  noticed  under  the  following  heads: 

(a)  Financial  devolution:  It  is  proposed  that  hence- 
forth there  should  be  a  complete  separation  of  the 
provincial  finances  from  those  of  the  Government  of 
India;  that,  reserving  certain  sources  of  revenue  for 
the  Government  of  India,  all  others  should  be  made 
over  to  the  Provincial  Governments  with  the  proviso 
that  the  first  charge  on  all  Provincial  revenues  will  be 
a  contribution  towards  the  maintenance  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  India,   considered   necessary   and   demanded 


112  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

by  the  latter.  A  certain  amount  of  power  to  impose 
fresh  taxes  and  to  raise  loans  is  also  conceded  to  the 
provincial  Governments  subject  to  the  veto  of  the 
Government  of  India. 

(b)  Legislative  devolution:  "It  is  our  intention,'' 
say  the  authors  of  the  report,  "to  reserve  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  a  general  overriding  power  of  legislation 
for  the  discharge  of  all  functions  which  it  will  have  to 
perform.  It  should  be  enabled  under  this  power  to 
intervene  in  any  province  for  the  protection  and 
enforcement  of  the  interests  for  which  it  is  responsible; 
to  legislate  on  any  provincial  matter  in  respect  of 
which  uniformity  of  legislation  is  desirable,  either  for 
the  whole  of  India  or  for  any  two  or  more  provinces; 
and  to  pass  legislation  which  may  be  adopted  either 
simpliciter  or  with  modifications  by  any  province 
which  may  wish  to  make  use  of  it.  We  think  that  the 
Government  of  India  must  be  the  sole  judge  of  the 
propriety  of  any  legislation  which  it  may  undertake 
under  any  one  of  these  categories,  and  that  its  com- 
petence so  to  legislate  should  not  be  open  to  challenge 
in  the  courts.  Subject  to  these  reservations  we  intend 
that  within  the  field  which  may  be  marked  off  for 
provincial  legislative  control  the  sole  legislative  power 
shall  rest  with  the  provincial  legislatures."  It  is  not 
proposed  to  put  a  statutory  limitation  on  the  power 
of  the  Government  of  India  to  legislate  for  the 
provinces,  but  it  is  hoped  that  "constitutional  practice  " 
will  prevent  the  central  Government  interfering  in 
provincial  matters  unless  the  interests  for  which  the 
latter  is  responsible  are  directly  affected. 

(c)  Provincial  Executive:  Article  220  gives  the 
Governor  the  power  to  appoint  "one  or  two  additional 


THE  PROPOSALS  113 

members    of   his    Government    as    members    without 
portfolio  for  purposes  of  consultation  and  advice." 

These,  in  substance,  are  the  proposals  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  and  the  Government  of  India  for  the 
future  government  of  the  provinces  into  which  India 
is  divided.  Some  of  these  latter  and  some  other 
tracts  are  expressly  excluded  from  the  operation  of 
these  recommendations.  It  will  be  at  once  observed 
that  this  is  neither  autonomy  nor  home  rule.  It  is  a 
kind  of  hybrid  system  with  final  powers  of  veto  and 
control  vested  in  the  Government  of  India.  The 
provision  as  to  Provincial  Legislatures  make  it  still 
more  complicated. 

"Let  us  now  explain  how  we  contemplate  in  future 
that  the  executive  Governments  of  the  provinces 
shall  be  constituted.  As  we  have  seen,  three  provinces 
are  now  governed  by  a  Governor  and  an  Executive 
Council  of  three  members,  of  whom  one  is  in  practice 
an  Indian  and  two  are  usually  appointed  from  the 
Indian  Civil  Service,  although  the  law  says  only  that 
they  must  be  qualified  by  twelve  years'  service  under 
the  Crown  in  India.  One  province,  Bihar  and  Orissa, 
is  administered  by  a  Lieutenant-Governor  with  a 
council  of  three  constituted  in  the  same  way.  The 
remaining  five  provinces,  that  is  to  say,  the  three 
Lieutenant- Governorships  of  the  United  Provinces, 
the  Punjab  and  Burma  and  the  Chief  Commissioner- 
ships  of  the  Central  Provinces  and  Assam  are  under 
the  administration  of  a  single  official  Head.  We 
find  throughout  India  a  very  general  desire  for  the 
extension  of  Council  government.  .  .  .  Our  first 
proposition,  therefore,  is  that  in  all  these  provinces 
singleheaded  administration  must  cease  and  be  re- 
placed by  collective  administration. 

"In  determining  the  structure  of  the  Executive 
we  have  to  bear  in  mind  the  duties  with  which  it  will 


114  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

be  charged.  We  start  with  the  two  postulates;  the 
complete  responsibility  for  the  government  cannot  be 
given  immediately  without  inviting  a  breakdown, 
and  that  some  responsibility  must  be  given  at  once  if 
our  scheme  is  to  have  any  value.  We  have  defined 
responsibility  as  consisting  primarily  in  amenability 
to  constituents,  and  in  the  second  place  in  amenability 
to  an  assembly.  We  do  not  believe  that  there  is  any 
way  of  satisfying  these  governing  conditions  other 
than  by  making  a  division  of  the  functions  of  the 
Government,  between  those  which  may  be  made  over 
to  popular  control  and  those  which  for  the  present 
must  remain  in  official  hands.  .  .  .  We  may  call 
these  the  'reserved'  and  ' transferred'  subjects  respec- 
tively. It  then  follows  that  for  the  management  of 
these  two  categories  there  must  be  some  form  of 
executive  body,  with  a  legislative  organ  in  harmony 
with  it.  .  .  . 


"We  propose  therefore  that  in  each  province  the 
executive  Government  should  consist  of  two  parts. 
One  part  would  comprise  the  head  of  the  province 
and  an  executive  council  of  two  members.  In  all 
provinces  the  head  of  the  Government  would  be 
known  as  Governor.  .  .  .  One  of  the  two  Executive 
Councillors  would  in  practice  be  a  European  qualified 
by  long  ofhcial  experience,  and  the  other  would  be  an 
Indian.  It  has  been  urged  that  the  latter  should  be 
an  elected  member  of  the  provincial  legislative  council. 
It  is  unreasonable  that  choice  should  be  so  limited. 
It  should  be  open  to  the  Governor  to  recommend 
whom  he  wishes.  .  .  .  The  Governor  in  council 
would  have  charge  of  the  reserved  subjects.  The 
other  part  of  the  government  would  consist  of  one 
member  or  more  than  one  member,  according  to  the 
number  and  importance  of  the  transferred  subjects, 
chosen  by  the  Governor  from  the  elected  members  of 
the  Legislative  council.  They  would  be  known  as 
ministers.     They  would  be  members  of  the  executive 


THE  PROPOSALS  115 

Government  but  not  members  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil; they  would  be  appointed  for  the  life- time  of  the 
legislative  council,  and  if  reelected  to  that  body  would 
be  re-eligible  for  appointment  as  members  of  the 
Executive.  As  we  have  said,  they  would  not  hold 
office  at  the  will  of  the  legislature  but  at  that  of  their 
constituents. 

"The  portfolios  dealing  with  the  transferred  sub- 
jects would  be  committed  to  the  ministers,  and  on 
these  subjects  the  ministers  together  with  the  Governor 
would  form  the  administration.  On  such  subjects 
their  decision  would  be  final,  subject  only  to  the 
Governor's  advice  and  control.  We  do  not  con- 
template that  from  the  outset  the  Governor  should 
occupy  the  position  of  a  purely  constitutional  Governor 
who  is  bound  to  accept  the  decisions  of  his  ministers. " 

(d)  Provincial  Legislatures:  "We  propose  there 
shall  be  in  each  province  an  enlarged  legislative 
council,  differing  in  size  and  composition  from  province 
to  province,  with  a  substantial  elected  majority, 
elected  by  direct  election  on  a  broad  franchise,  with 
such  communal  and  special  representation  as  may  be 
necessary." 

The  questions  of  franchise  and  special  and  com- 
munal representation  have  been  entrusted  to  a  special 
committee  the  report  of  which  is  shortly  expected. 
The  same  committee  will  also  decide  how  many  official 
members  there  will  be  on  each  Legislative  Council. 
It  is  provided  that  the  Governor  shall  be  the  President 
of  the  Council  and  will  have  the  power  to  nominate  a 
Vice-president  from  the  official  members.  As  to  the 
I  effect  of  resolutions  it  is  said  that  "we  do  not  propose 
j  that  resolutions,  whether  on  reserved  or  transferred 
*  subjects  should  be  binding." 

The  classification  of  the  reserved  and  transferred 


Il6  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

subjects  was  also  left  to  a  special  committee  which  has 
since  concluded  its  labours  and  whose  report  is  awaited 
with  interest. 

Legislation  on  reserved  subjects: 

"For  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  provincial  Govern- 
ment to  get  through  its  legislation  on  reserved  subjects, 
we  propose  that  the  head  of  the  Government  should 
have  power  to  certify  that  a  Bill  dealing  with  a  reserved 
subject  is  a  measure  'essential  to  the  discharge  of  his 
responsibility  for  the  peace  or  tranquillity  of  the 
province  or  of  any  part  thereof,  or  for  the  discharge  of 
his  responsibility  for  the  reserved  subjects.'  .  .  .  The 
Bill  will  be  read  and  its  general  principles  discussed 
in  the  full  legislative  council.  It  will  at  this  stage  be 
open  to  the  council  by  a  majority  vote  to  request  the 
Governor  to  refer  to  the  Government  of  India,  whose 
decision  on  the  point  shall  be  final,  on  the  question 
whether  the  certified  Bill  deals  with  a  reserved  subject. 
If  no  such  reference  is  made,  or  if  the  Government  of 
India  decide  that  the  certificate  has  been  properly 
given,  the  Bill  will  then  be  automatically  referred  to  a 
Grand  Committee  of  the  council.  Its  composition 
should  reproduce  as  nearly  as  possible  the  proportion  of 
the  various  elements  in  the  larger  body.  .  .  .  the  grand 
committee  in  every  council  should  be  constituted  so 
as  to  comprise  from  40  to  50  per  cent,  of  its  strength. 
It  should  be  chosen  for  each  Bill,  partly  by  election  by 
ballot,  and  partly  by  nomination.  The  Governor 
should  have  power  to  nominate  a  bare  majority  ex- 
clusive of  himself.  Of  the  members  so  nominated 
not  more  than  two- thirds  should  be  officials,  and  the 
elected  element  should  be  elected  ad  hoc  by  the  elected 
members  of  the  council  on  the  system  of  the  transferable 
vote." 

"On  reference  to  the  grand  committee,  the  Bill 
will  be  debated  by  that  body  in  the  ordinary  course, 
if  necessary  referred  to  a  select  committee,  to  which 


THE  PROPOSALS  117 

body  we  think  that  the  grand  committee  should  have 
power  to  appoint  any  member  of  the  legislative  council 
whether  a  member  of  the  grand  committee  or  not. 
The  select  committee  will,  as  at  present,  have  power 
to  take  evidence.  Then,  after  being  debated  in  the 
grand  committee  and  modified  as  may  be  determined, 
the  Bill  will  be  reported  to  the  whole  council.  The 
council  will  have  the  right  to  discuss  the  Bill  again 
generally,  but  will  not  be  able  to  reject  it,  or  to  amend 
it  except  on  the  motion  of  a  member  of  the  executive 
council.  The  Governor  will  then  appoint  a  time 
limit  within  which  the  Bill  may  be  debated  in  the 
council,  and  on  its  expiry  it  will  pass  automatically. 
But  during  such  discussion  the  council  will  have  the 
right  to  pass  a  resolution  recording  any  objection 
which  refers  to  the  principle  or  details  of  the  measure 
(but  not,  of  course,  to  the  certificate  of  its  character), 
and  any  such  resolution  will  accompany  the  Act  when, 
after  being  signed  by  the  Governor,  it  is  submitted  to 
the  Governor  General  and  the  Secretary  of  State." 

Provincial  Budget:  .  .  .  the  provincial  budget  should 

be  framed  by  the  executive  Government  as  a  whole. 

I  The  first  charge  on  provincial  revenues  will  be  the 

!  contribution  to  the  Government  of  India;    and  after 

1  that  the  supply  for  the  reserved  subjects  will  have 

i  priority.     The  allocation  of  supply  for  the  transferred 

1  subjects   will   be    decided   by   the   ministers.     If    the 

I  revenue  is  insufficient  for  their  needs,  the  question  of 

new  taxation  will  be  decided  by  the  Governor  and  the 

ministers.     We  are  bound  to  recognise  that  in  time 

new   taxation   will   be   necessary,   for   no   conceivable 

economies  can  finance  the  new  developments  which 

are  to  be  anticipated.     The  budget  will  then  be  laid 

before  the  council  which  will  discuss  it  and  vote  by 

resolution    upon    the    allotments.     If    the    legislative! 

council  rejects  or  modifies  the  proposed  allotment  for' 

reserved  subjects,  the  Governor  should  have  power  to 

insist  on  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  allotment  orig 

inally  provided,  if  for  reasons  to  be  stated  he  certifies 


1 1 8  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

its  necessity  in  the  terms  which  we  have  already- 
suggested.  We  are  emphatically  of  opinion  that  the 
Governor  in  Council  must  be  empowered  to  obtain 
the  supply  which  he  declares  to  be  necessary  for  the 
discharge  of  his  responsibilities.  Except  in  so  far  as 
the  Governor  exercises  this  power  the  budget  would 
be  altered  in  accordance  with  the  resolutions  carried 
in  council. " 

Modification  of  the  Scheme  by  the  Government  of  India. 
"After  five  years7  time  from  the  first  meeting  of  the 
reformed  councils  we  suggest  that  the  Government  of 
India  should  hear  applications  from  either  the  pro- 
vincial Government  or  the  provincial  council  for  the 
modification  of  the  reserved  and  transferred  lists  of 
the  province;  and  that,  after  considering  the  evidence 
laid  before  them,  they  should  recommend  for  the 
approval  of  the  Secretary  of  State  the  transfer  of 
such  further  subjects  to  the  transferred  list  as  they 
think  desirable.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  should  be 
made  plain  to  them  that  certain  functions  have  been 
seriously  maladministered,  it  will  be  open  to  them, 
with  the  sanction  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  retransfer 
subjects  from  the  transferred  to  the  reserved  list,  or 
to  place  restrictions  for  the  future  on  the  minister's 
powers  in  respect  of  certain  transferred  subjects.  .  .  . 
But  it  is  also  desirable  to  complete  the  responsibility 
of  the  ministers  for  the  transferred  subjects.  This 
should  come  in  one  of  two  ways,  either  at  the  initiative 
of  the  council  if  it  desires  and  is  prepared  to  exercise 
greater  control  over  the  ministers,  or  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Government  of  India,  which  may  wish  to  make 
this  change  as  a  condition  of  the  grant  of  new,  or  of 
the  maintainance  of  existing,  powers.  We  propose, 
therefore,  that  the  Government  of  India  may,  when 
hearing  such  applications,  direct  that  the  ministers' 
salaries,  instead  of  any  longer  being  treated  as  a 
reserved  subject,  and,  therefore,  protected  in  the  last 
resort  by  the  Governor's  order  from  interference  should 
be  specifically  voted  each  year  by  the  legislative  council; 


THE  PPOPOSALS  II 9 

or,  failing  such  direction  by  the  Government  of  India, 
it  should  be  open  to  the  councils  at  that  time  or  subse- 
quently to  demand  by  resolution  that  such  ministers' 
salaries  should  be  so  voted,  and  the  Government  of 
India  should  thereupon  give  effect  to  such  request." 

Periodic  commissions:  .  .  .  Ten  years  after  the  first 
meeting  of  the  new  councils  established  under  the 
Statute  a  commission  should  be  appointed  to  review 
the  position.  Criticism  has  been  expressed  in  the 
past  of  the  composition  of  Royal  Commissions,  and  it 
is  our  intention  that  the  commission  which  we  suggest 
should  be  regarded  as  authoritative  and  should  derive 
its  authority  from  Parliament  itself.  The  names  of 
the  commissioners,  therefore,  should  be  submitted  by 
the  Secretary  of  State  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament  for 
approval  by  resolution.  The  commissioners'  mandate 
should  be  to  consider  whether  by  the  end  of  the  term 
of  the  legislature  then  in  existence  it  would  be  possible 
to  establish  complete  responsible  government  in  any 
province  or  provinces,  or  how  far  it  would  be  possible 
to  approximate  it  in  others;  to  advise  on  the  continued 
reservation  of  any  departments  for  the  transfer  of 
which  to  popular  control  it  has  been  proved  to  their 
satisfaction  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come;  to  recom- 
mend the  retransfer  of  other  matters  to  the  control 
of  the  Governor  in  Council  if  serious  maladministration 
were  established;  and  to  make  any  recommendations 
for  the  working  of  responsible  government  or  the 
improvement  of  the  constitutional  machinery  which 
experience  of  the  systems  in  operation  may  show  to  be 
desirable.  .  .  . 

"  There  are  several  other  important  matters,  germane 
in  greater  or  less  degree  to  our  main  purpose,  which  the 
commission  should  review.  They  should  investigate 
the  progress  made  in  admitting  Indians  into  the  higher 
ranks  of  the  public  service.  They  should  examine 
the  apportionment  of  the  financial  burden  of  India 
with  a  view  to  adjusting  it  more  fairly  between  the 
provinces.     The  commission  should  also  examine  the 


120  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

development  of  education  among  the  people  and  the 
progress  and  working  of  local  self-governing  bodies. 
Lastly  the  commission  should  consider  the  working  of 
the  franchise  and  the  constitution  of  electorates, 
including  the  important  matter  of  the  retention  of 
communal  representation.  Indeed,  we  regard  the 
development  of  a  broad  franchise  as  the  arch  on  which 
the  edifice  of  self-government  must  be  raised;  for  we 
have  no  intention  that  our  reforms  should  result 
merely  in  the  transfer  of  powers  from  a  bureaucracy  to 
an  oligarchy.  .  .  ." 

"In  proposing  the  appointment  of  a  commission  ten 
years  after  the  new  Act  takes  effect  we  wish  to  guard 
against  possible  misunderstanding.  We  would  not 
be  taken  as  implying  that  there  can  be  established  by 
that  time  complete  responsible  government  in  the 
provinces.  In  many  of  the  provinces  no  such  con- 
summation can  follow  in  the  time  named.  The  pace 
will  be  everywhere  unequal,  though  progress  in  one 
province  will  always  stimulate  progress  elsewhere; 
but  undue  expectations  might  be  aroused,  if  we  indi- 
cated any  opinion  as  to  the  degree  of  approximation 
to  complete  self-government  that  might  be  reached 
even  in  one  or  two  of  the  most  advanced  provinces. 
The  reasons  that  make  complete  responsibility  at 
present  impossible  are  likely  to  continue  operative  in 
some  degree  even  after  a  decade." 

II 

The  proposals  regarding  the  Government  of  India 
called  the  Central  Government  may  be  thus  summed 
up: 

(a)  General:  "We  have  already  made  our  opinion 
clear  that  pending  the  development  of  responsible 
government  in  the  provinces  the  Government  of  India 
must  remain  responsible  only  to  Parliament.  In 
other  words,  in  all  matters  which  it  judges  to  be  essen- 


THE  PROPOSALS  121 

tial  to  the  discharge  of  its  responsibilities  for  peace, 
order,  and  good  government  it  must,  saving  only  for 
its  accountability  to  Parliament,  retain  indisputable 
power. " 

(b)  The  Governor  General's  Executive  Council: 
"We  would  therefore  abolish  such  statutory  restric- 
tions as  now  exist  in  respect  of  the  appointment  of 
Members  of  the  Governor  General's  Council,  so  as  to 
give  greater  elasticity  both  in  respect  to  the  size  of 
the  Government  and  the  distribution  of  work." 

At  present  there  is  one  Indian  member  in  the 
Viceroy's  Executive  Council  consisting  of  six  ordinary 
members  and  one  extraordinary  besides  the  Viceroy. 
This  scheme  recommends  the  appointment  of  another 
Indian. 

(c)  The  Indian  Legislative  Council. 

I.  Legislative  Assembly:  "  We  recommend  therefore 
that  the  strength  of  the  legislative  council,  to  be  known 
in  future  as  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  India,  should 
be  raised  to  a  total  strength  of  about  ioo  members,  so 
as  to  be  far  more  truly  representative  of  British  India. 
We  propose  that  two-thirds  of  this  total  should  be 
returned  by  election;  and  that  one- third  should  be 
nominated  by  the  Governor  General,  of  which  third 
not  less  than  a  third  again  should  be  non-officials 
selected  with  the  object  of  representing  minority  or 
special  interests.  .  .  .  Some  special  representation, 
we  think,  there  must  be,  as  for  European  and  Indian 
commerce,  and  also  for  the  large  landlords.  There 
should  be  also  communal  representation  for  Muham- 
madans  in  most  provinces  and  also  for  Sikhs  in  the 
Punjab." 

II.  The  Council  of  State:  "We  do  not  propose  to 
institute  a  complete  bi-cameral  system,  but  to  create 
a  second  chamber,  known  as  the  Council  of  State, 
which  shall  take  its  part  in  ordinary  legislative  business 
and  shall  be  the  final  legislative  authority  in  matters 


122  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

which  the  government  regards  as  essential.  The 
Council  of  State  will  be  composed  of  50  members, 
exclusive  of  the  Governor  General,  who  would  be 
President,  with  power  to  appoint  a  Vice-President  who 
would  normally  take  his  place:  not  more  than  25  will 
be  officials,  including  the  members  of  the  executive 
council,  and  4  would  be  non-officials  nominated  by  the 
Governor  General.  Official  members  would  be  eligible 
for  nomination  to  both  the  Legislative  Assembly  and 
the  Council  of  State.  There  would  be  21  elected 
members  of  whom  15  will  be  returned  by  the  non- 
official  members  of  the  provincial  legislative  councils, 
each  council  returning  two  members,  other  than  those 
of  Burma,  the  Central  Provinces  and  Assam  which 
will  return  one  member  each.  .  .  . 

"Inasmuch  as  the  Council  of  State  will  be  the 
supreme  legislative  authority  for  India  on  all  crucial 
questions  and  also  the  revising  authority  upon  all 
Indian  legislation,  we  desire  to  attract  to  it  the  services 
of  the  best  men  available  in  the  country.  We  desire 
that  the  Council  of  State  should  develop  something 
of  the  experience  and  dignity  of  a  body  of  Elder  States- 
men; and  we  suggest  therefore  that  the  Governor 
General  in  Council  should  make  regulations  as  to  the 
qualification  of  candidates  for  election  to  that  body 
which  will  ensure  that  their  status  and  position  and 
record  of  services  will  give  to  the  Council  a  senatorial 
character,  and  the  qualities  usually  regarded  as  appro- 
priate to  a  revising  chamber." 

III.  Legislative  procedure:  "Let  us  now  explain 
how  this  legislative  machinery  will  work.  It  will 
make  for  clearness  to  deal  separately  with  Government 
Bills  and  Bills  introduced  by  non-official  members. 
A  Government  Bill  will  ordinarily  be  introduced  and 
carried  through  all  the  usual  stages  in  the  Legislative 
Assembly.  It  will  then  go  in  the  ordinary  course  to 
the  Council  of  State,  and  if  there  amended  in  any 
way  which  the  Assembly  is  not  willing  to  accept,  it 
will  be  submitted  to  a  joint  session  of  both  Houses, 


THE  PROPOSALS  1 23 

by  whose  decision  its  ultimate  fate  will  be  decided. 
This  will  be  the  ordinary  course  of  legislation.  But 
it  might  well  happen  that  amendments  made  by  the 
Council  of  State  were  such  as  to  be  essential  in  the 
view  of  the  Government  if  the  purpose  with  which  the 
Bill  was  originally  introduced  was  to  be  achieved,  and 
in  this  case  the  Governor  General  in  Council  would 
certify  that  the  amendments  were  essential  to  the 
interests  of  peace,  order,  or  good  government.  The 
assembly  would  then  not  have  power  to  reject  or 
modify  these  amendments,  nor  would  they  be  open 
to  revision  in  a  joint  session. 

"We  have  to  provide  for  two  other  possibilities. 
Cases  may  occur  in  which  the  Legislative  Assembly 
refuses  leave  to  the  introduction  of  a  Bill  or  throws 
out  a  Bill  which  the  Government  regarded  as  necessary. 
For  such  a  contingency  we  would  provide  that  if  leave 
to  introduce  a  Government  Bill  is  refused,  or  if  the  Bill 
is  thrown  out  at  any  stage,  the  Government  should 
have  the  power,  on  the  certificate  of  the  Governor 
General  in  Council  that  the  Bill  is  essential  to  the 
interests  of  peace,  order,  or  good  government,  to  refer 
it  de  novo  to  the  Council  of  State;  and  if  the  Bill,  after 
being  taken  in  all  its  stages  through  the  Council  of 
State,  was  passed  by  that  body,  it  would  become  law 
without  further  reference  to  the  Assembly.  Further, 
there  may  be  cases  when  the  consideration  of  a  measure 
by  both  chambers  would  take  too  long  if  the  emergency 
which  called  for  the  measure  is  to  be  met.  Such  a 
contingency  should  rarely  arise;  but  we  advise  that  in 
cases  of  emergency,  so  certified  by  the  Governor 
General  in  Council,  it  should  be  open  to  the  Govern- 
ment to  introduce  a  Bill  in  the  Council  of  State,  and 
upon  its  being  passed  there  merely  to  report  it  to  the 
Assembly." 

IV.  Powers  of  dissolution,  etc.:  "The  Governor 
General  should  in  our  opinion  have  power  at  any  time 
to  dissolve  either  the  Legislative  Assembly  or  the 
Council  of  State  or  both  these  bodies.     It  is  perhaps 


124  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

unnecessary  to  add  that  the  Governor  General  and  the 
Secretary  of  State  should  retain  their  existing  powers 
of  assent,  reservation,  and  disallowance  to  all  Acts  of 
the  Indian  legislature.  The  present  powers  of  the 
Governor  General  in  Council  under  section  71  of  the 
Government  of  India  Act.  191 5,  to  make  regulations 
proposed  by  local  Governments  for  the  peace  and 
good  government  of  backward  tracts  of  territory 
should  also  be  preserved;  with  the  modification  that 
it  will  in  future  rest  with  the  Head  of  the  province 
concerned  to  propose  such  regulations  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  India." 

V.  Fiscal  legislation:  " Fiscal  legislation  will,  of 
course,  be  subject  to  the  procedure  which  we  have 
recommended  in  respect  of  Government  Bills.  The 
budget  will  be  introduced  in  the  Legislative  Assembly 
but  the  Assembly  will  not  vote  it.  Resolutions  upon 
budget  matters  and  upon  all  other  questions,  whether 
moved  in  the  Assembly  or  in  the  Council  of  State,  will 
continue  to  be  advisory  in  character." 

(d)  Privy  Council:  "We  have  a  further  recom- 
mendation to  make.  We  would  ask  that  His  Majesty 
may  be  graciously  pleased  to  approve  the  institution 
of  a  Privy  Council  for  India.  .  .  .  The  Privy  Council's 
office  would  be  to  advise  the  Governor  General  when 
he  saw  fit  to  consult  it  on  questions  of  policy  and 
administration." 

(e)  Periodic  commissions:  "At  the  end  of  the  last 
chapter  we  recommended  that  ten  years  after  the 
institution  of  our  reforms,  and  again  at  intervals  of 
twelve  years  thereafter,  a  commission  approved  by 
Parliament  should  investigate  the  working  of  the 
changes  introduced  into  the  provinces,  and  recommend 
as  to  their  further  progress.  It  should  be  equally  the 
duty  of  the  commission  to  examine  and  report  upon 
the  new  constitution  of  the  Government  of  India,  with 
particular  reference  to  the  working  of  the  machinery 
for  representation,  the  procedure  by  certificate,  and 
the  results  of  joint  sessions." 


THE  PROPOSALS  I 25 

III 

India  Office  in  London 

The  principal  proposals  under  this  head  may  be  thus 
summarized; 

"We  advise  that  the  Secretary  of  State's  salary, 
like  that  of  all  other  Ministers  of  the  Crown,  should 
be  defrayed  from  home  revenues  and  voted  annually 
by  Parliament.  This  will  enable  any  live  questions 
of  Indian  administration  to  be  discussed  by  the  House 
of  Commons  in  Committee  of  Supply.  ...  It  might 
be  thought  to  follow  that  the  whole  charges  of  the 
India  Office  establishment  should  similarly  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  home  Exchequer;  but  this  matter  is 
complicated  by  a  series  of  past  transactions,  and  by 
the  amount  of  agency  work  which  the  India  Office  does 
on  behalf  of  the  Government  of  India;  and  we  advise 
that  our  proposed  committee  upon  the  India  Office 
organization  should  examine  it  and  taking  these  fac- 
tors into  consideration,  determine  which  of  the  vari- 
ous India  Office  charges  should  be  so  transferred,  and 
which  can  legitimately  be  retained  as  a  burden  on 
Indian  revenues. 

"But  the  transfer  of  charges  which  we  propose, 
although  it  will  give  reality  to  the  debates  on  Indian 
affairs,  will  not  ensure  in  Parliament  a  better  informed 
or  a  more  sustained  interest  in  India.  We  feel  that 
this  result  can  only  be  accomplished  by  appointing  a 
Select  Committee  of  Parliament  on  Indian  affairs." 

The  above  in  substance  is  the  proposed  scheme. 
In  India  it  has  met  with  varied  response.  The  Euro- 
pean community  does  not  approve  of  it.  They  think 
it  is  too  radical.  The  European  Services  have  struck 
a  note  of  rebellion  threatening  to  resign  in  case  of  its 
acceptance    by    Parliament.     The    Indian    politicians 


126 


THE   POLITICAL   FUTURE   OF   INDIA 


are  divided  into  two  camps.  Their  views  are  best 
represented  by  the  following  tabular  statement  which 
we  reproduce  from  the  Indian  newspapers. 


A   COMPARISON   BETWEEN  THE   RESOLUTIONS   RE- 
LATING  TO   THE   REFORM    PROPOSALS   PASSED 

Ordinary  Rights  of  Citizens 


By  the  Special  Congress 

Resolution  IV.  The  Govern- 
ment of  India  shall  have  un- 
divided administrative  authority 
on  matters  directly  concerning 
peace,  tranquillity  and  defence 
of  the  country  subject  to  the 
following: 

That  the  Statute  to  be  passed 
by  Parliament  should  include 
the  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of 
the  people  of  India  as  British 
citizens: 

(a)  That  all  Indian  subjects 
of  his  Majesty  and  all  the 
subjects  naturalized  or  resident 
in  India  are  equal  before  the 
law,  and  there  shall  be  no  penal 
nor  administrative  law  in  force 
in  the  country  whether  substan- 
tive or  procedural  of  a  discrimi- 
native nature. 

(b)  That  no  Indian  subject 
of  his  Majesty  shall  be  liable  to 
suffer  in  liberty,  life,  property 
or  of  association,  free  speech  or 
in  respect  of  writing,  except 
under  sentence  by  an  ordinary 
Court  of  Justice,  and  as  a  result 
of  a  lawful  and  open  trial. 

(c)  That  every  Indian  sub- 
ject shall  be  entitled  to  bear 
arms,  subject  to  the  purchase 
of  a  licence,  as  in  Great  Britain, 
and  that  the  right  shall  not  be 
taken  away  save  by  a  sentence 
of  an  ordinary  Court  of  Justice. 


By  the  Moderate  Conference 

(V)  This  Conference  urges 
that  legislation  of  an  exceptional 
character  having  the  effect  of 
curtailing  ordinary  rights  such 
as  the  freedom  of  the  press  and 
public  meetings  and  open  judi- 
cial trial,  should  not  be  carried 
through  the  Council  of  State 
alone,  or  in  spite  of  the  declared 
opinion  of  the  Legislative  As- 
sembly of  India,  except  in  a 
time  of  war  or  internal  disturb- 
ance, without  the  approval  of 
the  Select  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  proposed  to 
be  set  up  under  the  Scheme 
unless  such  legislation  is  of  a 
temporary  character  and  limited 
to  a  period  of  one  year  only, 
the  said  legislation  being  in  any 
case  made  renewable  without 
such  approval  in  the  last  resort. 


(c)  All  racial  inequalities  in 
respect  of  trial  by  jury,  the 
rules  made  under  the  Arms  Act, 
etc.  should  be  removed  and  the 
latter  should  be  so  amended  as 
to  provide  for  the  possession  and 
carrying  of  arms  by  Indians 
under  liberal  conditions. 

(d)  A  complete  separation 
of  judicial  and  executive  func- 
tions of  all  district  officers 
should  be  made,  at  least  in  all 


THE  PROPOSALS 


127 


(d)  That  the  Press  shall  be 
free,  and  that  no  licence  nor 
security  shall  be  demanded  on 
the  registration  of  a  press  or  a 
newspaper. 

(e)  That  corporal  punish- 
ment shall  not  be  inflicted  on 
any  Indian  serving  in  his  Maj- 
esty's Army  or  Navy  save  under 
conditions  applying  equally  to 
all  other  British  subjects. 


major  provinces,  at  once,  and 
the  judiciary  placed  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  highest  court 
of  the  province. 


Fiscal  Autonomy 


Resolution  V.  This  Congress 
*  is  strongly  of  opinion  that  it  is 
essential  for  the  welfare  of  the 
Indian  people  that  the  Indian 
Legislature  should  have  the 
same  measure  of  fiscal  autonomy 
which  the  self-governing  domin- 
ions of  the  Empire  possess. 


(VI)  Saving  such  equal  and 
equitable  Imperial  obligations 
as  may  be  agreed  upon  as  resting 
on  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  the 
Government  of  India,  acting 
under  the  control  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, should  enjoy  the  same 
power  of  regulating  the  fiscal 
policy  of  India  as  the  Govern- 
ments of  the  self-governing 
dominions  enjoy  of  regulating 
their  fiscal  policy. 


Reform  Proposals 


Resolution  VI.  That  this 
Congress  appreciates  the  earnest 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Right 
Hon.  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
his  Excellency  the  Viceroy  to 
inaugurate  a  system  of  responsi- 
ble government  in  India,  and, 
while  it  recognizes  that  some  of 
the  proposals  constitute  an 
advance  on  the  present  condi- 
tions in  some  directions,  it  is  of 
opinion  that  the  proposals  are 
as  a  whole  disappointing  and 
unsatisfactory,  and  suggests  the 
following  modifications  as  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  constitute  a 
substantial  step  towards  re- 
sponsible government: 


(III)  'This  Conference  cor- 
dially welcomes  the  Reform 
Proposals  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  the  Viceroy  of  India 
as  constituting  a  distinct  advance 
on  present  conditions  as  regards 
the  Government  of  India  and 
the  Provincial  Governments  and 
also  a  real  step  towards  the 
progressive  realization  of  "re- 
sponsible government"  in  the 
Provincial  Government  in  due 
fulfillment  of  the  terms  of  the 
announcement  of  August  20, 
191 7.  As  such  this  Conference 
accords  its  hearty  support  to 
those  proposals,  and,  while  sug- 
gesting necessary  modifications 
and  improvements  therein,  ex- 
presses its  grateful  appreciation 


128  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

of  the  earnest  effort  of  Mr. 
Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford 
to  start  the  country  on  a  career 
of  genuine  and  lasting  progress 
towards  the  promised  goal.' 

(V)  'This  Conference  regards 
all  attempts  at  the  condemnation 
or  rejection  of  the  Reform 
Scheme  as  a  whole  as  ill  advised, 
and  in  particular  protests  em- 
phatically against  the  reaction- 
ary attitude  assumed  towards  it 
by  the  Indo-British  Association 
and  some  European  public  bodies 
in  this  country  which  is  certain 
to  produce,  if  successfully  per- 
sisted in,  an  extremely  undesir- 
able state  of  feeling  between 
England  and  India  and  imperil 
the  cause  of  ordered  progress  in 
this  country.  This  Conference, 
therefore,  most  earnestly  urges 
his  Majesty's  Government  and 
Parliament  of  the  United  King- 
dom to  give  effect  to  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Scheme  and  the 
suggestion  of  its  supporters  in 
regard  thereto  as  early  as  possible 
by  suitable  legislation. 

Government  of  India 

(i)  That  a  system  of  reserved  (V)     (a)    'This    Conference, 

and  transferred  subjects  similar  while  making  due  allowance  for 

to  that  proposed  for  the  prov-  the  necessities  or  drawbacks  of 

inces,  shall  be  adopted  for  the  transitional  scheme,  urges  that, 

Central  Government.  having  regard  to  the  terms  of 

(2)   That    the    reserved    sub-  the    announcement    of    August 

jects    shall    be    foreign    affairs  20,  191 7,  and  in  order  that  the 

(excepting    relations    with    the  progress  of  India  towards  the 

colonies  and  dominions)   army,  goal  of  a  self-governing  unit  of 

navy,  and  relations  with  Indian  the    British    Empire    may    be 

Ruling  Princes,  and  subject  to  facilitated  and  not  unduly  de- 

the   declaration   of   rights   con-  layed  or  hampered,  as  also  with 

tained    in    resolution    IV,    the  a  view  to  avoid  the  untoward 

matters  directly  affecting  public  consequences    of    a    legislature 

peace,  tranquillity  and  defence  containing  a  substantially  elected 

of   the   country,   and  all   other  popular  element  being  allowed 

subjects    shall    be    transferred  merely  to  indulge  in  criticism 

subjects.  unchecked  by  responsibility,  it 


THE   PROPOSALS 


129 


(3)  The  allotments  required 
'  for  reserved  subjects  should  be 
■'  the  first  charge  on  the  revenues. 

(4)  The  procedure  for  the 
adoption  of  the  budget  should  be 

i  on  the  lines  laid  down  for  the 
provinces. 

(5)  All  legislation  should  be 
by  Bills  introduced  into  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  provided 
that,  if,  in  the  case  of  reserved 
subjects,  the  Legislative  Council 
does  not  pass  such  measures  as 
the  Government  may  deem 
necessary,  the  Governor  General- 
in-Council  may  provide  for  the 
same  by  regulations,  such  regula- 
tions to  be  in  force  for  one  year 
but  not  to  be  renewed  unless  40 

;  per  cent,  of  the  members  of  the 
r   Assembly    present    and    voting 
are  in  favour  of  them. 

(6)  There  shall  be  no  Council 
of  State,  but  if  the  Council  of 
State  is  to  be  constituted,  at 
least  half  of  its  total  strength 
shall  consist  of  elected  members, 
and  that  procedure  by  certifica- 
tion shall  be  confined  to  the 
reserved  subjects. 

(7)  At  least  half  the  number 
of  Executive  Councillors  (if 
there  be  more  than  one)  in 
charge  of  reserved  subjects 
should  be  Indians. 

(8)  The  number  of  members 
of  the  Legislative  Assembly 
should  be  raised  to  150  and  the 
proportion  of  the  elected  mem- 
bers should  be  four-fifths. 

(9)  The  President  and  the 
Vice-President  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly  should  be  elected  by 
the  Assembly. 

(10)  The  Legislative  Assem- 
bly should  have  power  to  make 
or    modify    its    own    rules    of 

I  business  and  they  shall  not 
require  the  sanction  of  the 
Governor  General. 


is  essential  that  the  principle  of 
responsible  government'  should 
be  introduced  also  in  the  Govern- 
ment of  India,  simultaneously 
with  a  similar  reform  in  the 
provinces.  There  should,  there- 
fore, be  a  division  of  functions  in 
the  Central  Government  into 
'reserved'  and  'transferred'  as  a 
part  of  the  present  instalment  of 
reforms  and  the  Committee  on 
division  of  functions  should  be 
instructed  to  investigate  the 
subject  and  make  recommenda- 
tions. 

(b)  While,  as  suggested 
above,  some  measures  of  transfer 
of  power  to  the  Indian  Legisla- 
ture should  be  introduced  at  the 
commencement,  provision  should 
be  made  for  future  progress 
towards  complete  responsible 
government  of  the  Government 
of  India  by  specifically  authoriz- 
ing the  proposed  periodic  Com- 
missions to  inquire  into  the 
matter  and  to  recommend  to 
Parliament  such  further  advance 
as  may  be  deemed  necessary 
or  desirable  in  that  behalf. 

(c)  The  power  of  certification 
given  to  the  Governor-General 
should  be  limited  to  matters 
involving  the  defence  of  the 
country's  foreign  and  political 
relations,  and  peace  and  order 
and  should  not  be  extended  to 
'good  government'  generally  or 
'sound  financial  administration.' 

(e)  This  Conference  recom- 
mends that  the  composition  of 
the  Council  of  State  should  be  so 
altered  as  to  ensure  that  one  half 
of  its  total  strength  shall  consist 
of  elected  members. 

(f)  The  Indian  element  in 
the  Executive  Government  of 
India  should  be  one-half  of  the 
total  number  of  that  Govern- 
ment. 


13° 


THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 


(u)  There  shall  be  an  obliga- 
tion to  convene  meetings  of  the 
Council  and  Assembly  at  stated 
intervals,  or  on  the  requistion 
of  a  certain  proportion  of 
members. 

(12)  A  statutory  guarantee 
should  be  given  that  full  re- 
sponsible government  should  be 
established  in  the  whole  of 
British  India  within  a  period 
not  exceeding  15  years. 

(13)  That  there  should  be  no 
Privy  Council  for  the  present. 


Provincial  Governments 


1.  There  should  be  no  addi- 
tional members  of  the  Executive 
Government  without  portfolios. 

2.  From  the  commencement 
of  the  first  Council  the  principle 
of  responsibility  of  the  ministers 
to  the  legislature  shall  come  into 
force. 

3.  The  status  and  salary  of 
the  ministers  shall  be  the  same 
as  that  of  the  members  of 
Executive  Council. 

4.  At  least  half  the  number  of 
Executive  Councillors  in  charge 
of  reserved  subjects  (if  there  be 
more  than  one)  should  be 
Indians. 

5.  The  Budget  shall  be  under 
the  control  of  the  Legislature 
subject  to  the  contribution  to 
the  Government  of  India,  and 
during  the  life-time  of  the 
reformed  Councils,  to  the  alloca- 
tion of  a  fixed  sum  for  the  re- 
served subjects;  and  should 
fresh  taxation  be  necessary,  it 
should  be  imposed  by  the  pro- 
vincial Governments,  as  a  whole 
for  both  transferred  and  reserved 
subjects. 

Legislature 
1.  While    holding    that    the 
people  are  ripe  for  the  introduc- 


(e)  The  proposal  to  appoint 
an  additional  Member  or  Mem- 
bers from  among  the  senior 
officials,  without  portfolios  and 
without  vote  for  purposes  of 
consultation  and  advice  only, 
but  as  Members  of  the  Executive 
Government,  in  the  provinces 
should  be  dropped. 

(1) 

(a)  The  status  and  emolu- 
ments of  Ministers  should  be 
identical  with  those  of  Executive 
Councillors,  and  the  Governor 
should  not  have  greater  power 
of  control  over  them  than  over 
the  latter. 

(b)  Whatever  power  may  be 
given  to  the  Governor-in-Councii 
to  interfere  with  the  decisions  of 
the  Governor  and  Ministers  on 
the  ground  of  their  possible 
effects  on  the  administration  of 
the  reserved  subjects,  corre- 
sponding power  should  be  given 
to  the  Governor  and  Ministers 
in  respect  of  decisions  of  the 
Governor-in-Council  affecting 
directly  or  indirectly  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  transferred 
subjects. 

(d)  Heads  of  provincial 
Governments  in  the  major  prov- 
inces     should      ordinarily      be 


THE  PROPOSALS 


131 


tion  of  full  provincial  autonomy 
the  Congress  is  yet  prepared 
with  a  view  to  facilitating  the 
passage  of  the  Reforms,  to 
leave  the  departments  of  Law, 
Police  and  Justice,  (prisons 
excepted)  in  the  hands  of  the 
Executive  Government  in  all 
provinces  for  a  period  of  six 
years.     Executive   and   Judicial 

j  Departments  must  be  separated 

I  at  once. 

2.  The  President  and  the 
Vice-President  should  be  elected 
by  the  Council. 

3.  That  the  proposal  to  in- 
'  stitute  a  Grand  Committee  shall 

be     dropped.    The     Provincial 
I  Legislative   Council   shall  legis- 
late  in   respect   of   all   matters 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  pro- 
vincial   Government,    including 
Law,    Justice    and    Police    but 
where   the   Government  is  not 
satisfied    with    the    decision    of 
/  the  Legislative  Council  in  respect 
■   of    matters    relating    to    Law, 
Justice  and  Police,  it  shall  be 
open    to    the    Government    to 
refer  the  matter  to  the  Govern- 
ment   of    India.     The    Govern- 
'  ment   of   India   may   refer   the 
matter  to  the  Indian  Legislature 
1  and  the  ordinary  procedure  shall 
follow.    But    if    Grand    Com- 
mittees are  instituted,  this  Con- 
!  gress  is  of  opinion,  that  not  less 
'  than   one-half   of   the   strength 
)  shall  be  elected  by  the  Legisla- 
\  tive  Assembly. 

4.  The  proportion  of  elected 
j  members  in  the  Legislative 
'  Council  shall  be  four  fifths. 


Elections 

5.  Whenever  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  the  Council  of  State, 
or  the  Legislative  Council  is 
dissolved,  it  shall  be  obligatory 


selected  from  the  ranks  of  public 
men  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

(e)  No  administrative  con- 
trol over  subjects  vested  in 
provincial  Governments  should 
be  'reserved'  in  the  central 
Government  particularly  in  re- 
spect of  'transferred'  heads. 

(f)  The  Government  of  India 
should  have  no  power  to  make  a 
supplementary  levy  upon  the 
provinces;  they  may  only  take 
loans  from  the  latter  on  occasions 
of  emergency. 

(2)  This  Conference  recom- 
mends that  the  largest  possible 
number  of  subjects  should  be 
included  in  the  'transferred' 
list  in  every  province  as  the 
progress  and  conditions  of  each 
province  may  justify  and  that 
none  mentioned  in  the  Illustra- 
tive List  No.  n  appended  to 
the  Report  should,  as  far  as 
possible,  be  'reserved'  in  any 
province. 

IX  (c)  The  Legislative  Coun- 
cils should  have  the  right  to 
elect  their  own  Presidents  and 
Vice-Presidents. 

VIII  (b)  The  elected  element 
in  the  Provincial  Legislative 
Councils  should  be  four-fifths  of 
the  total  strength  of  the  Councils 
at  least  in  the  more  advanced 
provinces. 

^  IX.  1  (a)  It  should  be  pro- 
vided that  when  a  Council  is 
dissolved  by  the  Governor,  a 
fresh  election  should  be  held  and 
the  new  Council  summoned  not 
later  than  four  months  after  the 
dissolution. 

VIII  (a)  The  Franchise  should 
be  as  wide  and  the  composition 
of  the  Legislative  Council  should 
be  as  liberal  as  circumstances 
may  admit  in  each  province,  the 
number  of  representatives  of  the 
general     territorial     electorates 


132 


THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 


on  the  Government  as  the  case 
may  be,  to  order  the  necessary 
elections,  and  to  resummon  the 
body  dissolved  within  a  period 
'  of  three  months  from  the  date  of 
dissolution. 

6.  The  Legislative  Assembly 
should  have  power  to  make  or 
modify  its  own  rules  of  business 
and  they  shall  not  require  the 
sanction  of  the  Governor-Gen- 
eral. 

7.  There  should  be  an  obliga- 
tion to  convene  meetings  of  the 
Council  and  Assembly  at  stated 
intervals,  or  on  the  requisition 
of  a  certain  proportion  of 
members  of  the  Assembly. 

8.  No  dissolution  of  the 
legislature  shall  take  place  except 
by  way  of  an  appeal  to  the 
electorate  and  the  reason  shall 

j  be    stated   in   writing   counter- 
\  signed  by  the  Ministers. 


being  fixed  in  every  case  at  not 
less  than  one-half  of  the  whole 
council. 

(c)  The  franchise  should  be 
so  broad  and  the  electorates  so 
devised  as  to  secure  to  all  classes 
of  tax-payers  their  due  represen- 
tation by  election  and  the 
interests  of  those  communities 
or  groups  of  communities  in 
Madras  and  the  Bombay  Deccan 
and  elsewhere  who  at  present 
demand  special  electoral  protec- 
tion should  be  adequately  safe- 
guarded by  introducing  a  system 
of  plural  constituencies  in  which 
a  reasonable  number  of  seats 
should  be  reserved  for  those 
communities. 

(e)  In  the  case  of  any  com- 
munity for  which  separate  special 
electorates  may  be  deemed  at 
present  necessary,  participation 
in  the  general  territorial  elec- 
torates, whether  as  voters  or 
candidates,  should  not  be  per- 
mitted. 

(f)  It  shall  be  left  to  the 
option  of  an  individual  belonging 
to  a  community  which  is  given 
separate  representation  to  enrol 
himself  as  a  voter  either  in  the 
general  or  the  communal  elec- 
torate. 


Parliament  and  India  Office 


(e)  The  control  of  Parlia- 
ment and  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  must  only  be  modified  as 
the  responsibility  of  the  Indian 
and  provincial  Governments  to 
the  electorates  is  increased.  No 
power  over  provincial  Govern- 
ments now  exercised  by  Parlia- 
ment and  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  must  be  transferred  to  the 
Government  of  India,  save  in 
matters  of  routine  administra- 


(XI)  This  Conference,  while 
generally  approving  of  the  pro- 
posals embodied  in  the  Report 
regarding  the  India  Office  and 
Parliamentary  control,  urges:  — 

(a)  That  the  administrative 
control  of  Parliament  over  the 
Government  of  India  exercised 
through  the  Secretary  of  State 
should  continue  except  in  so  far 
as  the  control  of  the  legislature 
on  the  spot  is  substituted  for 


THE  PROPOSALS 


133 


tion  until  the  latter  is  responsible 
to  the  electorates. 

(d)  No  financial  or  adminis- 
trative powers  in  regard  to 
reserved  subjects  should  be 
transferred  to  the  provincial 
Governments  until  such  time  as 
they  are  made  responsible  regard- 
ing them  to  electorates,  and  until 
then  the  control  of  Parliament 
and  the  Secretary  of  State 
should  continue. 

(b)  The  Council  of  India 
shall  be  abolished,  and  there 
shall  be  two  permanent  Under- 
secretaries to  assist  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  India,  one  of  whom 
shall  be  an  Indian. 

(c)  All  charges  in  respect  to 
the  India  Office  establishment 
shall  be  placed  on  the  British 
estimates. 

(d)  The  committee  to  be 
appointed  to  examine  and  report 
on  the  present  constitution  of 
the  Council  of  India  shall  con- 
tain an  adequate  Indian  element. 


the  present  Parliamentary  con- 
trol. 

(d)  That  until  the  India 
Council  can  be  abolished  by 
substituting  Indian  control  for 
the  control  of  Parliament  over 
the  affairs  of  India,  it  should  be 
a  mere  advisory  body  with  its 
strength  reduced  to  8  members, 
four  of  whom  should  be  Indians. 

(c)  That  at  least  a  major 
part  of  the  cost  of  the  India 
Office  should  be  borne  by  the 
British  Exchequer. 

(b)  That  Indian  opinion 
should  be  represented  on  the 
Committee  appointed  to  report 
upon  the  organisation  of  the 
India  Office  and  the  evidence  of 
Indian  witnesses  invited. 


Mahomedan  Representation 


Resolution  VII.  The  propor- 
tion of  Mahomedans  in  the 
Legislative  Council  and  the 
Legislative  Assembly  as  laid 
down  in  the  Congress-League 
Scheme  must  be  maintained. 


(VIII)  (d)  Mahomedan  repre- 
sentation in  every  legislature 
should  be  in  the  proportions 
mentioned  in  the  Scheme 
adopted  by  the  Congress  and 
the  Muslim  League  at  Lucknow 
in  1916. 


Army  Commissions 


Resolution  XII.  This  Con- 
gress places  on  record  its  deep 
disappointment  at  the  altogether 
inadequate  response  made  by  the 
Government  to  the  demand  for 
the  grant  of  commissions  to 
Indians  in  the  army,  and  is  of 
opinion  that  steps  should  be 
:mmediately  taken  so  as  to 
enable  the  grant  to  Indians  at 


(b)  This  Conference  strongly 
urges  that  Indians  should  be 
nominated  to  20  per  cent.,  to 
start  with,  of  King's  commissions 
in  the  Indian  Army  and  that 
adequate  provision  for  training 
them  should  be  made  in  this 
country  itself. 


134 


THE   POLITICAL  EUTURE   OF   INDIA 


an  early  date  of  at  least  25  per 
cent,  of  the  commissions  in  the 
army,  the  proportions  to  be 
gradually  increased  to  50  per 
cent,  within  a  period  of  ten 
years. 


Public  Services 


Resolution  XVII.  That  this 
Congress  is  of  opinion  that  the 
proportion  of  annual  recruit- 
ment to  the  Indian  civil  service 
to  be  made  in  England  should 
be  50  per  cent,  to  start  with, 
such  recruitment  to  be  by  open 
competition  in  India  from  per- 
sons already  appointed  to  the 
Provincial  Civil  Service. 


X  (a)  This  Conference  thanks 
the  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
Viceroy  for  recommending  that 
all  racial  bars  should  be  abolished 
and  for  recognizing  the  principle 
of  recruiting  of  all  the  Indian 
public  services  in  India  and  in 
England  instead  of  any  service 
being  recruited  for  exclusively 
in  the  latter  country. 


Franchise  for  Women 


Resolution  VIII.  Women 
possessing  the  same  qualifica- 
tions as  are  laid  down  for  men 
in  any  part  of  the  Scheme  shall 
not  be  disqualified  on  account 
of  sex. 


Constitution  of  Councils 

Resolution  XIII.  That,  so 
far  as  the  question  of  determin- 
ing the  franchise  and  the  con- 
stituence  and  the  composition 
of  the  Legislative  Assemblies  is 
concerned,  this  Congress  is  of 
opinion  that,  instead  of  being 
left  to  be  dealt  with  by  Com- 
mittees, it  should  be  decided 
by  the  House  of  Commons  and 
be  incorporated  in  the  statute 
to  be  framed  for  the  constitution 
of  the  Indian  Government. 

Resolution  XIV.  That  as 
regards  the  Committee  to  advise 
on  the  question  of  the  separation 
of  Indian  from  provincial  func- 
tions and  also  with  regard  to  the 
Committee  if  any  for  the  con- 


constitution  of  periodic 
Commission 

9  (b)  Some  provision  should 
be  made  for  the  appointment  and 
cooperation  of  qualified  Indians 
on  the  periodic  commission  pro- 
posed to  be  appointed  every  ten 
or  twelve  years  and  it  should 
further  be  provided  that  the 
first  periodic  commission  shall 
come  to  India  and  submit  its 
recommendations  to  Parliament 
before  the  expiry  of  the  third 
Legislative  Council  after  the 
Reform  Scheme  comes  into 
operation  and  that  every  subse- 
quent periodic  commission 
should  be  appointed  at  the  end 
of  every  ten  years. 


THE  PROPOSALS  135 

sideration  of  reserved  or  an  un- 
reserved department,  this  Con- 
gress is  of  opinion  that  the 
principle  set  forth  in  the  above 
resolution  should  apply  mutatis 
mutandis  to  the  formation  of  the 
said  Committee. 
Or 
In  the  alternative;  if  a  Com- 
mittee is  appointed  for  the 
purpose,  the  two  non-official 
members  of  the  Committee 
should  be  elected  —  one  by  the 
All-India  Congress  Committee 
and  the  other  by  the  Council  of 
the  Moslem  League  while  the 
coopted  non-official  for  each 
province  should  be  elected  by 
the  Provincial  Congress  Com- 
mittee of  that  province. 

The  All-India  Muslim  League  is  in  substantial 
accord  with  the  resolutions  of  the  Special  Congress. 
It  will  be  easily  seen  that  Indian  opinion,  of  both 
Hindus  and  Mussulmans,  is  substantially  in  accord  in 
their  demands  for  the  democratization  of  the  Central 
government  and  in  their  criticism  of  the  rest  of  the 
scheme.  The  Indians  have  thus  exercised  their  right 
of  self-determination  through  their  popular  bodies 
and  are  entitled  to  get  what  they  demand.  After  all, 
what  they  ask  for  is  only  a  modest  instalment  of 
autonomy  under  British  control. 

In  the  appendices  the  reader  will  find  a  comparative 
table  showing  (a)  the  present  Constitution  of  Govern- 
ment in  India  (b)  the  proposals  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  the  Viceroy  (c)  and  the  Congress  League 
Scheme. 


XI 

INDIA'S   CLAIM   TO   FISCAL   AUTONOMY 
"INDUSTRIES    AND    TARIFFS" 

....  for  equality  of  right  amongst 
nations,  small  as  well  as  great,  is  one  of 
the  fundamental  issues  this  country  and 
her  allies  are  fighting  to  establish  in  this 
war. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"The  War  Aims  of  the  Allies."  Speech 
delivered  to  delegates  of  the  Trade  Unions, 
at  the  Central  Hall,  Westminster,  Janu- 
ary 5,  1918. 

I  beg  to  record  my  strong  opinion  that 
in  the  matter  of  Indian  industries  we  are 
bound  to  consider  Indian  interests  firstly, 
secondly,  and  thirdly.  I  mean  by  "firstly'7 
that  the  local  raw  products  should  be  util- 
ised, by  secondly,  that  industries  should 
be  introduced  and  by  "thirdly"  that  the 
profits  of  such  industry  should  remain  in 
the  country. 

Sir  Frederick  Nicholson 

Quoted    on    page   300,    Report    of    the 
Indian  Industrial  Commission,  1916-1918. 

Economic  bondage  is  the  worst  of  all  bondages. 
Economic  dependence,  or  the  lack  of  economic  inde- 
pendence, is  the  source  of  all  misery,  individual  or 

136 


CLAIM  TO  FISCAL  AUTONOMY  137 

national.  A  person  economically  dependent  upon 
another  is  a  virtual  slave,  despite  appearances.  He 
who  supplies  food  and  raiment  and  the  necessities  of 
life  is  the  real  master. 

The  desire  for  gain  dominates  the  world  and  all  its 
activities.  Even  religion,  as  ordinarily  understood, 
interpreted  and  administered,  is  a  game  of  pounds 
and  shillings,  say  what  one  may  to  the  contrary. 
There  are  exceptions  to  this  statement,  but  they  are 
few  and  far  between.  The  world  does  not  subsist  by 
bread  alone,  but  without  bread  it  cannot  exist  even 
for  a  minute.  The  generality  of  the  world  cares  more 
for  bread  than  for  anything  else,  though  there  are 
individuals  and  groups  of  individuals  who  would  not 
stoop  to  obtain  bread  by  dishonorable  means  and 
those  also  who  would  die  rather  than  obtain  bread  by 
the  violation  of  their  soul. 

There  are  numerous  ways  in  which  a  subject  nation 
feels  the  humiliation  and  helplessness  of  her  position, 
but  none  is  so  telling  and  so  effective  as  the  subordina- 
tion of  her  economic  interests  to  those  of  the  dominant 
power.  This  is  especially  true  in  these  days  of  free 
and  easy  transportation,  of  quick  journeys,  and  of 
scientific  warfare.  In  any  struggle  between  nations, 
the  victory  eventually  must  rest  with  the  one  in 
possession  of  the  largest  number  of  "silver  bullets. " 
It  is  true  that  silver  bullets  alone  will  not  do  unless 
there  are  brains  and  bodies  to  use  them,  but  the  latter 
without  the  former  are  helpless. 

A  nation  may  be  the  greatest  producer  of  food; 
yet  she  may  die  of  hunger  from  lack  of  ability  to  keep 
her  own  produce  for  herself.  Food  obeys  the  behest 
of   the   silver  bullets.     The  law  of  self-preservation, 


I38  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

therefore,  requires  only  that  nations  be  free  to  regulate 
their  own  household,  subject  to  the  condition  that 
thereby  they  do  not  violate  the  rules  of  humanity  or 
trample  upon  the  rights  of  any  human  being. 

Mr.  Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford  have,  in  parts 
of  their  Report,  been  extremely  candid.  The  value  of 
their  joint  production  lies  in  this  candidness.  In  no 
other  part,  perhaps,  have  they  been  so  candid  as  in 
the  one  dealing  with  "Industries  and  Tariff."  In 
Paragraph  331  they  frankly  admit  the  truth  of  the 
following  observation  of  the  late  Mr.  Ranade  on  the 
economic  effects  of  British  rule  in  India: 

"The  political  domination  of  one  country  by  another 
attracts  far  more  attention  than  the  more  formidable, 
though  more  unfelt,  domination  which  the  capital, 
enterprise  and  skill  of  one  country  exercise  over  the 
trade  and  manufactures  of  another.  This  latter 
domination  has  an  insidious  influence  which  paralyses 
the  springs  of  all  the  various  activities  which  together 
make  up  the  life  of  a  nation.' ' 

In  the  course  of  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Westminster 
Gazette  in  191 7,  Lord  Curzon  said  that  "the  fiscal 
policy  of  India  during  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years 
has  been  shaped  far  more  in  Manchester  than  in 
Calcutta."  This  candid  admission  about  "the  sub- 
ordination of  Indian  fiscal  policy  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  a  House  of  Commons  powerfully  affected 
by  Lancashire  influence,"  is  the  keynote  of  the  Indian 
demand  for  Home  Rule.  The  authors  of  the  Montagu- 
Chelmsford  Report  say  so  quite  frankly  and  fairly  in 
Paragraphs  332  to  336  of  their  report,  from  which  we 
make  the  following  extracts: 


CLAIM  TO  FISCAL  AUTONOMY  139 

"The  people  are  poor;  and  their  poverty  raises  the 
question  whether  the  general  level  of  well-being  could 
not  be  materially  raised  by  the  development  of  in- 
dustries. It  is  also  clear  that  the  lack  of  outlet  for 
educated  youth  is  a  serious  misfortune  which  has 
contributed  not  a  little  in  the  past  to  political  unrest 
in  Bengal.  But  perhaps  an  even  greater  mischief  is 
the  discontent  aroused  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are 
jealous  for  India  by  seeing  that  she  is  so  largely  de- 
pendent on  foreign  countries  for  manufactured  goods. 
They  noted  that  her  foreign  trade  was  always  growing, 
but  they  also  saw  that  its  leading  feature  continued 
to  be  the  barter  of  raw  materials  valued  at  relatively 
low  prices  for  imported  manufactures,  which  obviously 
afforded  profits  and  prosperity  to  other  countries 
industrially  more  advanced.  Patriotic  Indians  might 
well  ask  themselves  why  these  profits  should  not  accrue 
to  their  country:  and  also  why  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  industries  which  flourished  in  the  country  was 
financed  by  European  capital  and  managed  by  Euro- 
pean skill." 

"The  fact  that  India's  foreign  trade  was  largely 
with  the  United  Kingdom  gave  rise  to  a  suspicion  that 
her  industrial  backwardness  was  positively  encouraged 
in  the  interests  of  British  manufactures,  and  the 
maintenance  of  the  excise  duty  on  locally  manufactured 
cotton  goods  in  the  alleged  interests  of  Lancashire  is 
very  widely  accepted  as  a  conclusive  proof  of  such  a 
purpose.  On  a  smaller  scale,  the  maintenance  of  a 
Stores  Department  at  the  India  Office  is  looked  upon 
as  an  encouragement  to  the  Government  to  patronize 
British  at  the  expense  of  local  manufacturers." 

There  can  thus  be  no  autonomy  without  fiscal 
autonomy.  In  fact,  the  latter  alone  is  the  determining 
characteristic  of  an  autonomous  existence. 

The  one  national  trait  which  distinguishes  the 
British  from  other  nations  of  the  world  is  their  habit 
of  truthfulness  and  frankness.     When   we    say   that 


140  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OE  INDIA 

we  do  not  thereby  mean  that  all  Britishers  are  equally 
truthful  —  to  the  same  extent  and  degree.  But  we 
do  mean  that  on  the  whole  the  British  nation  has  a 
larger  percentage  of  truthful  and  candid  persons  in 
her  family  than  any  other  nation  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Where  their  interests  clash  with  those  of 
others,  they  can  be  as  hard,  exacting  and  cruel  as  any 
one  else  in  the  world.  But  repentance  overtakes 
them  sooner  than  it  does  the  others.  They  have  a 
queer  but  admirable  faculty  of  introspection  which 
few  other  people  possess  to  the  same  extent  and  in 
the  same  numbers.  This  is  what  endears  them  even 
to  those  who  are  never  tired  of  cursing  their  snobbish- 
ness and  masterful  imperialism.  The  faculty  of 
occasionally  seeing  themselves  with  the  eyes  of  others, 
makes  them  the  most  successful  rulers  of  men.  They 
are  as  a  nation  lacking  in  imagination,  but  there  are 
individuals  amongst  them  who  can  see,  if  they  will, 
their  own  faults;  who  can  and  do  speak  out  their 
minds  honestly  and  truthfully,  even  though  by  so 
doing  they  may  temporarily  earn  odium  and  un- 
popularity. 

The  remarks  and  observations  of  the  eminent 
authors  of  the  Report  relating  to  the  fiscal  relations 
of  India  and  England  reflect  the  honesty  of  their 
purpose  and  the  sincerity  of  their  mind  as  no  other 
part  of  the  Report  does.  They  have  entered  upon  the 
subject  with  great  diffidence  and,  though  expressing 
themselves  with  marked  candor  and  fairness,  have 
I  refrained  from  making  any  definite  recommendations. 
In  this  respect  it  will  be  only  fair  to  acknowledge  the 
equally  candid  opinion  of  Mr.  Austin  Chamberlain, 
who,  in  191 7,  made  a  most  significant  confession  by 


CLAIM  TO  FISCAL  AUTONOMY  141 

stating  on  an  important  occasion  that  "  India  will  not 
remain,  and  ought  not  to  remain  content  to  be  a  hewer 
of  wood  and  a  drawer  of  water  for  the  rest  of  the 
Empire. " 

To  our  simple  minds,  not  accustomed  to  the  anom- 
alies of  official  life,  it  seems  inexplicable  how,  after 
these  candid  admissions,  the  authors  could  have  any 
hesitation  in  recommending  the  only  remedy  by  which 
India's  wrong  could  be  righted  and  her  economic 
rights  secured  in  the  future  —  viz.,  fiscal  autonomy. 

In  Paragraph  335  the  authors  of  the  report  give  the 
genesis  of  the  Swadeshi  boycott  movement  of  1905, 
and  very  pertinently  observe  that  "in  Japanese  progress  , 
and  efficiency"  the  educated  Indians  see  "an  example 
of  what  could  be  effected  by  an  Asiatic  nation  free  of 
foreign  control,"  or  in  other  words,  of  what  could  be  , 
achieved  by  India,  if  she  had  a  national  government  I 
of  her  own  interested  in  her  industrial  advance.     Mr. 
Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford  thus  rightly  observe 
that  "English  theories  to  the  appropriate  limits  of  the 
State's  activity  are  inapplicable  in  India"  and  that  if 
the  resources  of  the  country  are  to  be  developed  the 
Government  must  take  action. 

"After  the  war,"  add  the  authors,  "the  need  for 
industrial  development  will  be  all  the  greater  unless 
India  is  to  become  a  mere  dumping-ground  for  the 
manufactures  of  foreign  nations  which  will  then  be 
competing  all  the  more  keenly  for  the  markets  on 
which  their  political  strength  so  perceptibly  depends. 
India  will  certainly  consider  herself  entitled  to  claim 
all  the  help  that  her  Government  can  give  her  to 
enable  her  to  take  her  place  as  a  manufacturing  coun- 
try;   and  unless  the  claim  is  admitted  it  will  surely 


142  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

turn  into  an  insistent  request  for  a  tariff  which  will 
penalize  imported  articles  without  respect  of  origin." 
Further  on  the  Report  states: 

"We  are  agreed  therefore  that  there  must  be  a 
definite  change  of  view;  and  that  the  Government 
must  admit  and  shoulder  its  responsibility  for  furthering 
the  industrial  development  of  the  country.  The 
difficulties  by  this  time  are  well-known.  In  the  past, 
and  partly  as  a  result  of  recent  swadeshi  experiences, 
India's  capital  has  not  generally  been  readily  available; 
among  some  communities  at  least  there  is  apparent 
distaste  for  practical  training,  and  a  comparative 
weakness  of  mutual  trust;  skilled  labour  is  lacking, 
and  although  labour  is  plentiful,  education  is  needed  to 
inculcate  a  higher  standard  of  living  and  so  to  secure  a 
continuous  supply;  there  is  a  dearth  of  technical  institu- 
tions; there  is  also  a  want  of  practical  information  about 
the  commercial  potentialities  of  India's  war  products. 
Though  these  are  serious  difficulties,  they  are  not 
insuperable;  but  they  will  be  overcome  only  if  the 
State  comes  forward  boldly  as  guide  and  helper.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  are  good  grounds  for  hope. 
India  has  great  natural  resources,  mineral  and  vege- 
table. She  has  furnished  supplies  of  manganese, 
tungsten,  mica,  jute,  copra,  lac,  etc.,  for  use  in  the 
war.  She  has  abundant  coal,  even  if  its  geographical 
distribution  is  uneven;  she  has  also  in  her  large  rivers 
ample  means  of  creating  water-power.  There  is  good 
reason  for  believing  that  she  will  greatly  increase  her 
output  of  oil.  Her  forest  wealth  is  immense,  and 
much  of  it  only  awaits  the  introduction  of  modern 
means  of  transportation,  a  bolder  investment  of 
capital,  and  the  employment  of  extra  staff;  while  the 
patient  and  laborious  work  of  conservation  that  has 
been  steadily  proceeding  joined  with  modern  scientific 
methods  of  improving  supplies  and  increasing  output, 
will  yield  a  rich  harvest  in  the  future.  We  have  been 
assured  that  Indian  capital  will  be  forthcoming  once 


CLAIM  TO  FISCAL  AUTONOMY  143 

it  is  realized  that  it  can  be  invested  with  security  and 
profit  in  India;  a  purpose  that  will  be  furthered  by 
the  provision  of  increased  facilities  for  banking  and 
credit.  Labor,  though  abundant,  is  handicapped  by 
still  pursuing  uneconomical  methods,  and  its  output 
would  be  greatly  increased  by  the  extended  use  of 
machinery.  We  have  no  doubt  that  there  is  an 
immense  scope  for  the  application  of  scientific  methods. 
Conditions  are  ripe  for  the  development  of  new  and 
for  the  revival  of  old  industries,  and  the  real  enthu- 
siasm for  industries  which  is  not  confined  to  the  ambi- 
tions of  a  few  individuals  but  rests  on  the  general 
desire  to  see  Indian  capital  and  labour  applied  jointly 
to  the  good  of  the  country,  seem  to  us  the  happiest 
augury." 

The  views  of  educated  India  about  fiscal  policy  have 
been  very  faithfully  reproduced  in  Paragraphs  341  and 
342,  which  also  we  reproduce  almost  bodily: 

"  Connected  intimately  with  the  matter  of  industries 
is  the  question  of  the  Indian  tariff.  This  subject  was 
excluded  from  the  deliberations  of  the  Industrial  Com- 
mission now  sitting  because  it  was  not  desirable  at 
that  juncture  to  raise  any  question  of  the  modification 
of  India's  fiscal  policy;  but  its  exclusion  was  none  the 
less  the  object  of  some  legitimate  criticism  in  India. 
The  changes  which  we  propose  in  the  Government  of 
India  will  still  leave  the  settlement  of  India's  tariff  in 
the  hands  of  a  government  amenable  to  Parliament 
and  the  Secretary  of  State;  but  inasmuch  as  the  tariff 
reacts  on  many  matters  which  will  henceforth  come 
more  and  more  under  Indian  control,  we  think  it  well 
that  we  should  put  forward  for  the  information  of  His 
Majesty's  Government  the  views  of  educated  Indians 
upon  this  subject.  We  have  no  immediate  proposals 
to  make;  we  are  anxious  merely  that  any  decisions 
which  may  hereafter  be  taken  should  be  taken  with 
full  appreciation  of  educated  Indian  opinion. 

"The    theoretical   free    trader,   we    believe,    hardly 


144  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

exists  in  India  at  present.  As  was  shown  by  the 
debates  in  the  Indian  Legislative  Council  in  March,* 
1 91 3,  educated  Indian  opinion  ardently  desires  a  tariff.! 
It  rightly  wishes  to  find  another  substantial  basis  than 
that  of  the  land  for  Indian  revenues,  and  it  turns  to  a 
tariff  to  provide  one.  Desiring  industries  which  will 
give  him  Indian-made  clothes  to  wear  and  •  Indian- 
made  articles  to  use,  the  educated  Indian  looks  to  the 
example  of  other  countries  which  have  relied  on  tariffs, 
and  seizes  on  the  admission  of  even  free  traders  that 
for  the  nourishment  of  nascent  industries  a  tariff  is 
permissible.  We  do  not  know  whether  he  pauses  to 
reflect  that  these  industries  will  be  largely  financed  by 
foreign  capital  attracted  by  the  tariff,  although  we 
have  evidence  that  he  has  not  learned  to  appreciate 
the  advantages  of  foreign  capital.  But  whatever 
economic  fallacy  underlies  his  reasoning,  these  are  his 
firm  beliefs;  and  though  he  may  be  willing  to  concede 
the  possibility  that  he  is  wrong,  he  will  not  readily 
concede  that  it  is  our  business  to  decide  the  matter 
for  him.  He  believes  that  as  long  as  we  continue  to 
decide  for  him  we  shall  decide  in  the  interests  of  Eng- 
land and  not  according  to  his  wishes;  and  he  points 
to  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  differ- 
entiation of  the  cotton  excise  in  support  of  his  con- 
tention. So  long  as  the  people  who  refuse  India 
protection  are  interested  in  manufactures  with  which 
India  might  compete,  Indian  opinion  cannot  bring 
itself  to  believe  that  the  refusal  is  disinterested  or 
dictated  by  care  for  the  best  interests  of  India.  This 
real  and  keen  desire  for  fiscal  autonomy  does  not 
1  mean  that  educated  opinion  in  India  is  unmindful  of 
Imperial  obligations.  .  .    " 

These  admissions  should  put  India's  claims  for 
fiscal  autonomy  beyond  the  range  of  doubt  and  dispute, 
but  so  strange  are  the  ways  of  modern  statesmanship 
that  consistency  and  logic  are  not  the  necessary 
accompaniments  thereof. 


CLAIM  TO   FISCAL   AUTONOMY  145 

The  authors  have  advanced  another  very  strong 
argument  for  the  economic  development  of  India,  viz., 
"  military  value,"  which  makes  the  case  conclusive. 
This  argument  has  been  supplied  by  the  Great  War 
and  is  so  well  known  that  we  need  not  state  it  in  their 
words. 

If  India  is  to  prosper  and  take  her  legitimate  place 
in  the  British  Commonwealth,  and  in  the  great  family 
of  Nations  of  the  World,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
she  should  be  given  complete  fiscal  freedom  to  manage 
her  own  affairs,  develop  her  own  industries  and  do  her 
own  trading.  Considering  her  size  and  resources,  it 
wounds  her  self-respect  and  makes  her  feel  exceedingly 
mean  and  small  to  go  begging  for  alms  and  charity 
every  time  there  is  a  failure  of  rains  and  the  cry  of 
famine  is  raised. 

For  a  nation  of  315  millions  of  human  beings  living 
in  a  country  which  nature  has  endowed  with  all  its 
choicest  blessings,  rich  and  fertile  soil,  plenty  of  water 
and  sun,  an  abundant  supply  of  metals  and  coal, 
willing  labor,  artistic  skill  and  a  power  of  manipulating 
for  beauty  and  elegance  unexcelled  in  the  world  — 
to  exist  in  pitiful  economic  dependence  is  a  condition 
most  deplorable  and  most  pathetic.  We  want  no 
charity,  no  concessions,  no  favors,  no  preference. 
What  we  most  earnestly  beg  and  ask  for  is  an  oppor- 
tunity. 

For  a  synopsis  of  the  findings  and  recommendations 
of  the  Industrial  Commission  mentioned  in  this  chapter 
see  appendix  1. 


XII 
THE   REVOLUTIONARY   MOVEMENT 

In  December,  1917,  the  Government  of  India 
appointed  a  committee  of  three  Englishmen  and  two 
Indians  (1)  "to  investigate  and  report  on  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  criminal  conspiracies  connected 
with  the  revolutionary  movements  in  India,  (2)  to 
examine  and  consider  the  difficulties  that  have  arisen 
in  dealing  with  such  conspiracies  and  to  advise  as  to 
the  legislation,  if  any,  necessary  to  enable  the  govern- 
ment to  deal  effectively  with  them."  Of  the  three 
English  members,  Mr.  Justice  Rowlatt  of  the  King's 
Bench  Division,  England,  was  appointed  as  president, 
and  of  the  other  two,  one  was  a  judge  in  the  service  of 
the  Government  and  the  other  a  member  of  a  Board 
of  Revenue  in  one  of  the  Indian  Provinces.  Of  the 
two  Indians,  one  was  a  judge  and  the  other  a  practicing 
lawyer. 

This  committee  submitted  its  report  in  April,  191 8, 
which  was  published  by  the  Government  of  India  in 
July  of  the  same  year.  The  president,  Mr.  Justice 
Rowlatt's  letter  covering  the  report  gives  the  nature 
of  the  evidence  upon  which  their  report  is  based, 
which  is  as  follows:  "Statements  have  been  placed 
before  us  with  documentary  evidence  by  the  Govern- 
ments of  Bengal,  Bombay,  Bihar  and  Orissa,  the 
Central  Provinces,  the  United  Provinces,  the  Punjab 

146 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT         147 

and  Burmah  as  well  as  by  the  Government  of  India. 
In  every  case,  except  that  of  Madras,  we  were  further 
attended  by  officers  of  the  government,  presenting 
this  statement,  who  gave  evidence  before  us.  In  the 
two  provinces  in  which  we  held  sittings,  namely, 
Bengal  and  Punjab,  we  further  invited  and  secured 
the  attendance  of  individuals,  or  as  deputed  by  associa- 
tions, of  gentlemen  who  we  thought  might  give  us 
information  from  various  non-official  points  of  view." 

It  is  clear  from  this  statement  that  the  investigation 
of  the  committee  was  neither  judicial  nor  even  semi- 
judicial;  it  was  a  purely  administrative  inquiry  con- 
ducted behind  the  backs  of  the  individuals  concerned, 
without  the  latter  having  any  opportunity  of  cross- 
examining  the  witnesses  or  giving  their  explanations 
of  the  evidence  against  them.  While  the  different 
Governments  in  India  were  fully  represented  in  each 
case  by  the  ablest  of  their  servants,  the  individuals 
investigated  were  not.  We  do  not  want  to  insinuate 
that  either  the  Governments  or  the  officers  deputed 
by  them  were  unfair  in  their  evidence.  All  that  we 
want  to  point  out  is  that  the  other  side  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  their  case  before  the  committee. 
Consequently,  it  is  no  wonder  that  one  comes  across 
many  traces  of  political  and  racial  bias  both  in  the 
introduction  and  the  Report. 

The  very  first  paragraph  of  the  introduction  betrays 
either  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  committee  about 
the  ancient  history  of  India,  or  a  deliberate  misrepre- 
sentation of  the  nature  of  the  Hindu  State.  The 
committee  says:  "Republican  or  Parliamentary  forms 
of  governments  as  at  present  understood  were  neither 
desired  nor  known  in  India  until  after  the  establish- 


148"  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

ment  of  British  rule.  In  the  Hindu  State  the  form  of 
government  was  an  absolute  monarchy,  though  the 
monarch  was  by  the  Hindu  Shastras  hedged  round  by 
elaborate  rules  for  securing  the  welfare  of  his  subjects 
and  was  assisted  by  a  body  of  councillors,  the  chief  of 
whom  were  Brahmin  members  of  the  priestly  class 
which  derived  authority  from  a  time  when  the  priests 
were  the  sole  repositories  of  knowledge  and  therefore 
the  natural  instruments  of  administration."  The 
statements  made  in  this  paragraph  do  not  represent 
the  whole  truth. 

The  committee  ignores  the  fact  that  Republican 
or  Parliamentary  forms  of  Government  "as  at  present 
understood"  were  neither  desired  nor  known  in  any 
part  of  the  world,  except  perhaps  England  itself  until 
after  the  establishment  of  British  rule  in  India.1  Then 
the  committee  has  altogether  ignored  that,  in  the 
Hindu  State,  the  form  of  government  was  not  an 
absolute  monarchy  always  and  in  all  parts  of  India. 
There  is  ample  historical  evidence  to  prove  that  India 
had  many  Republican  States,  along  with  oligarchies 
and  monarchies  at  one  and  the  same  period  of  her 
history.  The  second  part  of  the  second  sentence  is 
also  not  correct,  because  the  priestly  class  derived  its 
authority  from  a  time  when  the  priests  were  not  the 
sole  repositories  of  knowledge.  The  several  Hindu 
political  treatises  belong  to  a  period  when  the  whole 
populace  was  highly  educated  and  could  take  sub- 
stantial part  in  the  determination  of  the  affairs  of  their 
country. 

Equally  misleading  is  the  last  sentence  of  the  intro- 
duction where  the  committee  says  that  it  is  among  the 

1  The  beginnings  of  British  rule  in  India  were  made  in  1757  a.d. 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT  1 49 

Chitpavan  Brahmins  of  the  Poona  district  that  they 
first  find  indications  of  a  revolutionary  movement. 
This  statement  is  incorrect,  if  it  means  that  after  the 
establishment  of  British  rule  in  India  no  attempt  had 
been  made  to  overthrow  it  prior  to  the  Revolutionary 
movement  inaugurated  by  the  Poona  Brahmins.  The 
statement  ignores  three  such  attempts  which  are 
known  to  history;  viz.,  (a)  the  great  Mutiny  of  1857, 
(b)  the  Wahabee  Rebellion  of  Bengal,  and  (c)  the 
Kiika  Rebellion  of  the  Punjab;  not  to  mention  other 
minor  attempts  made  in  other  places  by  other  people. 

Yet  we  think  that  this  report  is  a  very  valuable 
document,  giving  in  one  place  the  history  and  the 
progress  of  the  Revolutionary  Movement  in  India. 
The  findings  and  the  recommendations  of  the  com- 
mittee may  not  be  all  correct,  but  the  material  collected 
and  published  for  the  first  time  is  too  valuable  to  be 
neglected  by  anyone  who  wants  to  have  an  intelligent 
grasp  of  the  political  situation  in  India,  such  as  has 
developed  within  the  last  twenty  years. 

The  committee  gives  a  summary  of  its  conclusions 
as  to  the  conspiracies  in  Chapter  XV,  which  w?  copy 
verbatim: 

"In  Bombay  they  have  been  purely  Brahmin  and 
mostly  Chitpavan.  In  Bengal  the  conspirators  have 
been  young  men  belonging  to  the  educated  middle 
classes.  Their  propaganda  has  been  elaborate,  per- 
sistent and  ingenious.  In  their  own  province  it  has 
produced  a  long  series  of  murders  and  robberies.  In 
Bihar  and  Orissa,  the  United  Provinces,  the  Central 
Provinces  and  Madras,  it  took  no  root,  but  occasionally 
led  to  crime  and  disorder.  In  the  Punjab  the  return 
of  emigrants  from  America,  bent  on  revolution  and 
bloodshed,    produced    numerous     outrages     and    the 


150  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

Ghadr  conspiracy  of  1915.  In  Burma,  too,  the  Ghadr 
movement  was  active,  but  was  arrested. 

"Finally  came  a  Mohammedan  conspiracy  confined 
to  a  small  clique  of  fanatics  and  designed  to  overthrow 
British  rule  with  foreign  aid. 

"All  these  plots  have  been  directed  towards  one 
and  the  same  objective,  the  overthrow  by  force  of 
British  rule  in  India.  Sometimes  they  have  been 
isolated;  sometimes  they  have  been  interconnected; 
sometimes  they  have  been  encouraged  and  supported 
by  German  influence.  All  have  been  successfully 
encountered  with  the  support  of  Indian  loyalty." 

In  this  general  summary  the  committee  has  made 
no  attempt  to  trace  out  the  causes  that  led  to  the 
inauguration  of  the  revolutionary  movement  and  its 
subsequent  progress.  A  chapter  on  that  subject  would 
have  been  most  illuminating. 

In  chapters  dealing  with  provinces  they  have  selected 
some  individuals  and  classes  on  whom  to  lay  blame 
for  "incitements"  to  murders  and  crimes,  but  have 
entirely  failed  to  analyze  the  social,  political  and 
economic  conditions  which  made  such  incitements  and 
their  success  possible. 

It  is  clear  even  from  this  summary  that  the  only 
two  provinces  where  the  revolutionary  propaganda 
took  root  and  resulted  in  more  than  occasional  outrages 
were  Bengal  and  the  Punjab. 

In  the  Bombay  Presidency,  revolutionary  outrages 
did  not  exceed  three  within  a  period  of  20  years  (from 
1897  to  191 7),  two  murders  and  one  bomb-throwing. 
Besides,  three  trials  for  conspiracies  are  mentioned  all 
within  a  year  (1909-19 10),  two  in  Native  States  and 
one  in  British  territory.  Altogether  82  men  were 
prosecuted  for  being  involved  in  these  conspiracies. 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT         151 

The  total  result  comes  to  this,  that  in  the  course  of 
20  years  about  ioo  persons  were  found  to  be  involved 
in  a  revolutionary  movement  in  a  territory  embracing 
an  area  of  186,923  square  miles  and  a  population  of 
27  million  human  beings.  This  is  surely  by  no  means 
a  formidable  record  justifying  extraordinary  legislation 
such  as  is  proposed.1  The  net  loss  of  human  life  did 
not  exceed  three,  though  unfortunately  all  three 
victims  were  Europeans. 

Bihar  and  Orissa  formed  part  of  the  province  of 
Bengal  during  most  of  the  period  covered  by  the 
revolutionary  movement  of  Bengal,  viz.,  from  1906 
to  191 7.  It  was  in  Bihar  which  was  then  a  part  of 
Bengal,  that  in  1908,  the  first  bomb  was  thrown. 
The  only  other  revolutionary  outrage  that  took  place 
in  Bihar  was  one  in  1913,  resulting  in  the  murder  of 
two  Indians. 

In  the  United  Provinces  of  Agra  and  Oude,  the 
only  tangible  evidence  of  revolutionary  activity  re- 
corded by  the  committee  is  the  Benares  Conspiracy 
that  came  to  light  in  191 5-1 91 6.  The  only  outrage 
noted  is  that  of  the  alleged  murder  of  a  fellow  revolu- 
tionary by  a  member  of  the  same  gang. 

To  the  Central  provinces  the  committee  has  given 
a  practically  clean  bill. 

In  Madras  the  revolutionary  outrages  consisted  of 
one  murder  (of  a  European  Magistrate)  and  one 
conspiracy  involving  nine  persons. 

The  conspiracies  and  intrigues  detected  in  Burma 
are  ascribed  to  people  of  other  provinces  and  not  a 
single  outrage  from  that  province  itself  is  reported. 

So  we  find  that  in  the  period  from  1906  to  1907, 
1  Since  enacted. 


152  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

both  inclusive,  outside  the  provinces  of  Bengal  and 
the  Punjab,  the  revolutionary  crime  was  limited  to 
three  outrages  and  three  conspiracies  in  the  Bombay 
Presidency,  one  outrage  in  Bihar,  one  outrage  and  one 
conspiracy  in  the  United  Provinces,  one  outrage  and 
one  conspiracy  in  Madras  and  some  intrigues  and 
conspiracies  during  the  war  in  Burma.  Thus  the 
only  two  provinces  in  which  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment established  itself  to  any  appreciable  extent  was 
Bengal  and  the  Punjab. 

In  the  Punjab,  again,  the  first  revolutionary  crime 
took  place  in  December,  191 2,  and  the  second  in  1913 
and  the  rest  all  during  the  War.  Cases  of  seditious 
utterances  and  writings  are  not  included  in  the  term 
"revolutionary  crime"  used  in  the  above  paragraphs. 
It  was  from  Bengal,  then,  that  before  the  War  revolu- 
tionary propaganda  was  carried  on  to  any  large  extent, 
revolutionary  movements  organized  and  revolutionary 
crimes  committed.  About  half  of  the  Report  deals 
with  Bengal  and  the  general  findings  of  the  committee 
may  be  thus  summarized: 

(1)  That  the  object  of  the  movement  was  the 
overturning  of  "the  British  government  in  India  by 
violent  means"  (p.  15  and  also  p.  19). 

(2)  That  the  class  among  whom  the  movement 
spread  was  comprised  of  the  Bhadralok  (the  respectable 
middle  class).     The  committee  says: 

"The  people  among  whom  he  (i.e.,  Barendra,  the 
first  Bengali  revolutionary  propagandist)  worked,  the 
bhadralok  of  Bengal,  have  been  for  centuries  peaceful 
and  unwarlike,  but,  through  the  influence  of  the  great 
central  city  of  Calcutta,  were  early  in  appreciating 
the  advantages  of  Western  learning.     They  are  mainly 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT  1 53 

Hindus  and  their  leading  castes  are  Brahmins,  Kay- 
asthas  and  Vaidyas;  but  with  the  spread  of  English 
education  some  other  castes  too  have  adopted  bhadralok 
ideals  and  modes  of  life.  Bhadralok  abound  in  villages 
as  well  as  in  towns,  and  are  thus  more  interwoven  with 
the  landed  classes  than  are  the  literate  Indians  of  other 
provinces.  Wherever  they  live  or  settle,  they  earnestly 
desire  and  often  provide  English  education  for  their 
sons.  The  consequence  is  that  a  number  of  Anglo- 
vernacular  schools,  largely  maintained  by  private 
enterprise,  have  sprung  up  throughout  the  towns  and 
villages  of  Bengal.  No  other  province  of  India 
possesses  a  network  of  rural  schools  in  which  English 
is  taught.  These  schools  are  due  to  the  enterprise  of 
the  bhadralok  and  to  the  fact  that,  as  British  rule 
gradually  spread  from  Bengal  over  Northern  India, 
the  scope  of  employment  for  English-educated  Bengalis 
spread  with  it.  Originally  they  predominated  in  all 
offices  and  higher  grade  schools  throughout  Upper 
India.  They  were  also,  with  the  Parsees,  the  first 
Indians  to  send  their  sons  to  England  for  education, 
to  qualify  for  the  Bar,  or  to  compete  for  the  higher 
grades  of  the  Civil  and  Medical  services.  When, 
however,  similar  classes  in  other  provinces  also  acquired 
a  working  knowledge  of  English,  the  field  for  Bengali 
enterprise  gradually  shrank.  In  their  own  province 
bhadralok  still  almost  monopolize  the  clerical  and 
subordinate  administrative  services  of  Government. 
They  are  prominent  in  medicine,  in  teaching  and  at 
the  Bar.  But,  in  spite  of  these  advantages,  they  have 
felt  the  shrinkage  of  foreign  employment;  and  as  the 
education  which  they  receive  is  generally  literary  and 
ill-adapted  to  incline  the  youthful  mind  to  industrial, 
commercial  or  agricultural  pursuits,  they  have  not 
succeeded  in  finding  fresh  outlets  for  their  energies. 
Their  hold  on  land,  too,  has  weakened,  owing  to  increas- 
ing pressure  of  population  and  excessive  sub-infeudation. 
Altogether  their  economic  prospects  have  narrowed,  and 
the  increasing  numbers  who  draw  fixed  incomes  have 
felt  the  pinch  of  rising  prices.     On  the  other  hand,  the 


154  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

memories  and  associations  of  their  earlier  prosperity, 
combined  with  growing  contact  with  Western  ideas  and 
standards  of  comfort,  have  raised  their  expectations  of 
the  pecuniary  remuneration  which  should  reward  a  labori- 
ous and,  to  their  minds,  a  costly  education.  Thus  as 
bhadralok  learned  in  English  have  become  more  and 
more  numerous,  a  growing  number  have  become  less 
and  less  inclined  to  accept  the  conditions  of  life  in 
which  they  found  themselves  on  reaching  manhood. 
Bhadralok  have  always  been  prominent  among  the 
supporters  of  Indian  political  movements;  and  their 
leaders  have  watched  with  careful  attention  events  in 
the  world  outside  India.  The  large  majority  of  the 
people  of  Bengal  are  not  bhadralok  but  cultivators, 
and  in  the  eastern  districts  mainly  Muhammadans; 
but  the  cultivators  of  the  province  are  absorbed  in 
their  own  pursuits,  in  litigation,  and  in  religious  and 
caste  observances.  It  was  not  to  them  but  to  his  own 
class  that  Barendra  appealed.  When  he  renewed 
his  efforts  in  1904,  the  thoughts  of  many  members  of 
this  class  had  been  stirred  by  various  powerful  in- 
fluences."   [The  italics  are  ours.] 

We  have  given  this  lengthy  extract  as  it  shows  con- 
clusively (a)  that  the  movement  originated  and  spread 
among  people  who  had  received  Western  education, 
most  of  the  leaders  having  been  educated  in  England 
and  (b)  that  the  root  cause  of  the  movement  was 
economic. 

(3)  That  various  circumstances  occasioned  by  certain 
Government  measures  "  specially  favored  the  develop- 
ment" of  the  movement  (p.  16).  Among  the  measures 
specially  mentioned  are  (a)  the  University  law  of  Lord 
Curzon  "which  was  interpreted  by  politicians  as 
designed  to  limit  the  numbers  of  Indians  educated  in 
English  and  thus  to  retard  national  advance";  (b)  the 
partition  of  Bengal  by  Lord   Curzon.     "It  was  the 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT  1 55 

agitation  that  attended  and  followed  on  this  measure 
that  brought  previous  discontent  to  a  climax." 

(4)  That  the  revolutionary  movement  received  a 
substantial  impetus  by  the  failure  of  constitutional 
agitation  for  the  reversal  of  the  policy  that  decided 
on  partitioning  Bengal  into  two  divisions.  This 
failure  led  to  two  different  kinds  of  agitation,  open 
and  secret:  (a)  open  economic  defiance  by  Swadeshi 
and  boycott  —  Swadeshi  was  the  affirmative  and 
boycott  the  negative  form  of  the  same  movement. 
Swadeshi  enjoined  the  use  of  country  made  articles; 
boycott  was  directed  against  English  imports,  (b)  open 
propaganda  by  a  more  outspoken  and  in  some  instances 
violent  press,  (c)  open  control  of  educational  agencies 
by  means  of  national  institutions,  (d)  open  stimulus 
to  physical  education  and  physical  culture,  (e)  nation- 
alistic interpretation  of  religious  dogma  and  forms 
(open),  (/)  organization  of  secret  societies  for  more 
violent  propaganda,  for  learning  and  teaching  the 
use  of  firearms,  for  the  manufacture  of  bombs,  for 
illicit  purchase  and  stealing  of  firearms,  for  assassina- 
tion and  murder,  (g)  secret  attempts  to  tamper  with 
the  army,  (h)  conspiracies  for  terroristic  purposes  and 
for  obtaining  sinews  of  war  by  theft,  robbery  and 
extortion. 

The  following  two  extracts  which  the  committee 
has  taken  from  one  of  the  publications  of  the  revolu- 
tionary party  called  Mukti  Kon  Pathe  (what  is  the 
path  of  salvation)  will  explain  clauses  (/)  and  (g)  and 

(*). 

"The  book  further  points  out  that  not  much  muscle 
was  required  to  shoot  Europeans,  that  arms  could  be 
procured  by  grim  determination,  and  that  weapons 


156  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

could  be  prepared  silently  in  some  secret  place.  In- 
dians could  be  sent  to  foreign  countries  to  learn  the 
art  of  making  weapons.  The  assistance  of  Indian 
soldiers  must  be  obtained.  They  must  be  made  to 
understand  the  misery  and  wretchedness  of  the  coun- 
try. The  heroism  of  Sivaji  must  be  remembered. 
As  long  as  revolutionary  work  remained  in  its  infancy, 
expenses  could  be  met  by  subscriptions.  But  as  work 
advanced,  money  must  be  extracted  from  society  by 
the  application  of  force.  If  the  revolution  is  being 
brought  about  for  the  welfare  of  society,  then  it  is 
perfectly  just  to  collect  money  from  society  for  that 
purpose.  It  is  admitted  that  theft  and  dacoity  are 
crimes  because  they  violate  the  principle  of  good 
society.  But  the  political  dacoit  is  aiming  at  the  good 
of  society,  "so  no  sin  but  rather  virtue  attaches  to  the 
destruction  of  this  small  good  for  the  sake  of  some 
higher  good.  Therefore  if  revolutionaries  extort  money 
from  the  miserly  or  luxurious  members  of  society  by 
the  application  of  force,  their  conduct  is  perfectly 
just." 

Mukti  Kon  Pathe  further  exhorts  its  readers  to 
obtain  the  "help  of  the  native  soldiers.  .  .  .  Although 
these  soldiers  for  the  sake  of  their  stomach  accept 
service  in  the  Government  of  the  ruling  power,  still 
they  are  nothing  but  men  made  of  flesh  and  blood. 
They,  too,  know  (how)  to  think;  when  therefore  the 
revolutionaries  explain  to  them  the  woes  and  miseries 
of  the  country,  they,  in  proper  time,  swell  the  ranks 
of  the  revolutionaries  with  arms  and  weapons  given 
them  by  the  ruling  power.  .  .  .  Because  it  is  possible 
to  persuade  the  soldiers  in  this  way,  the  modern  English 
Raj  of  India  does  not  allow  the  cunning  Bengalis  to 
enter  into  the  ranks  of  the  army.  .  .  .  Aid  in  the  shape 
of  arms  may  be  secretly  obtained  by  securing  the  help 
of  the  foreign  ruling  powers." 

(5)  That  except  in  five  cases  the  idea  of  private 
gain  never  entered  into  the  activities  of  the  revolu- 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT  1 57 

tionaries  and  of  the  five  persons  referred  to  three  were 
taxi-cab  drivers  either  hired  or  coerced  to  cooperate 
in  revolutionary  enterprise  (p.  20). 

(6)  That  "the  circumstances  that  robberies  and 
murders  are  being  committed  by  young  men  of  respect- 
able extraction,  students  at  schools  and  colleges,  is 
indeed  an  amazing  phenomenon  the  occurrence  of 
which  in  most  countries  would  be  hardly  credible." 

(7)  That  "since  the  year  1906  revolutionary  outrages 
in  Bengal  have  numbered  210  and  attempts  at  com- 
mitting such  outrages  have  amounted  to  101.  Definite 
information  is  in  the  hands  of  the  police  of  the  com- 
plicity of  no  less  than  1038  persons  in  these  offences. 
But  of  these,  only  84  persons  have  been  convicted  of 
specified  crimes  in  39  prosecutions,  and  of  these  per- 
sons, 30  were  tried  by  tribunals  constituted  under  the 
Defence  of  India  Act.  Ten  attempts  have  been  made 
to  strike  at  revolutionary  conspiracies  by  means  of 
prosecutions  directed  against  groups  or  branches.  In 
these  prosecutions  192  persons  were  involved,  63  of 
whom  were  convicted.  Eighty-two  revolutionaries 
have  rendered  themselves  liable  to  be  bound  over  to  be 
of  good  behaviour  under  the  preventive  sections  of 
the  Criminal  Procedure  Code.  In  regard  to  51  of 
these,  there  is  direct  evidence  of  complicity  in  outrages. 
There  have,  moreover,  been  59  prosecutions  under  the 
Arms  and  Explosives  Acts  which  have  resulted  in 
convictions  of  58  persons." 

We  wish  the  committee  had  also  supplemented  this 
information  by  a  complete  record  of  the  punishments 
that  were  imposed  on  persons  convicted  of  revolu- 
tionary crime  in  the  ten  years  from  1906  to  191 7. 
We  are  sure  such  a  statement  would  have  been  most 


158  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

informing  and  illuminating.  It  would  have  con- 
clusively established  the  soundness  of  the  haif-hearted 
finding  that  "the  convictions  .  .  .  did  not  have  as 
much  effect  as  might  have  been  expected  in  repressing 
crime."  In  fact  they  had  no  effect.  They  only  added 
fuel  to  the  fire. 

(8)  That  persons  involved  in  revolutionary  crime 
belonged  to  all  castes  and  occupations  and  the  vast 
bulk  of  them  were  non-Brahmins.  They  were  of  all 
ages,  from  10-15  to  over  45 >  the  majority  being  under 
25.  The  committee  has  in  an  appendix  (p.  93)  given 
three  tables  of  statistics  as  to  age,  caste,  occupation 
or  profession  of  persons  convicted  in  Bengal  of  revolu- 
tionary crimes  or  killed  in  commission  of  such  crimes 
during  the  years  1907-19 17.  This  clause  is  based  on 
these  statistics. 

We  are  afraid,  however,  that  these  statistics  do  not 
afford  quite  a  correct  index  of  the  age,  caste,  occupa- 
tion and  position  of  all  the  people  in  Bengal  that  were 
and  are  sympathetically  interested  in  the  revolutionary 
movement  of  Bengal. 

In  investigating  reasons  for  failure  of  ordinary 
machinery  for  the  prevention,  detection  and  punish- 
ment of  crime  in  Bengal,  the  committee  has  assigned 
six  reasons:  (a)  want  of  evidence,  (b)  paucity  of 
police,  (c)  facilities  enjoyed  by  criminals,  (d)  difficulty 
in  proof  of  possession  of  arms,  etc.,  (e)  distrust  of 
evidence,  (/)  the  uselessness,  in  general,  of  confession 
made  to  the  Police.  These  reasons,  however,  do 
not  represent  the  whole  truth.  Some  of  the  most 
daring  crimes  were  committed  in  broad  daylight,  in 
much  frequented  streets  of  the  metropolis  and  in  the 
presence  of  numerous  people.     Moreover,  the  Govern- 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT  1 59 

ment  did  not  depend  on  ordinary  law.  Measure  after 
measure  was  enacted  to  expedite  and  facilitate  con- 
victions. Extraordinary  provisions  were  made  to 
meet  all  the  difficulties  pointed  out  by  the  committee 
and  extraordinary  sentences  were  given  in  the  case  of 
conviction.  Yet  the  Government  failed  either  to 
extirpate  the  movement  or  to  check  it  effectively  or  to 
bring  the  majority  of  offenders  to  book. 

The  members  of  the  committee  have  frankly  ad- 
mitted: "That  we  do  not  expect  very  much  from 
punitive  measures.  The  conviction  of  offenders  will 
never  check  such  a  movement  as  that  which  grew  up 
in  Bengal  unless  the  leaders  can  be  convicted  at  the 
outset."  They  pin  their  faith  on  "preventive" 
measures  recommended  by  them.  It  was  perhaps  not 
within  their  scope  to  say  that  the  most  effective  pre- 
ventive measure  was  the  removal  of  the  political  and 
economic  causes  ,  that  had  generated  the  movement. 
The  committee  has  studiously  avoided  discussing  that 
important  point,  but  now  and  then  they  have  inci- 
dentally furnished  the  real  clue  to  the  situation. 
Discussing  the  "accessibility  of  Bengal  schools  and 
colleges  to  Revolutionary  influences,"  they  quote  a 
passage  from  one  of  the  reports  of  the  Director  of 
Public  Instruction  in  Bengal.  We  copy  below  the 
whole  of  this  paragraph,  as,  to  us,  it  seems  to  be  very 
pertinent  to  the  issue. 

"Accessibility  of  Bengal  Schools  and  Colleges  to 
Revolutionary  Influences.  —  Abundant  evidence  has 
compelled  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  secondary 
English  schools,  and  in  a  less  degree  the  colleges,  of 
Bengal  have  been  regarded  by  the  revolutionaries 
as  their  most  fruitful  recruiting  centres.     Dispersed 


l6o  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

as  these  schools  are  far  and  wide  throughout  the 
Province,  sometimes  clustering  in  a  town,  sometimes 
isolated  in  the  far-away  villages  of  the  eastern  water- 
country,  they  form  natural  objects  for  attack;  and  as 
is  apparent  from  the  reports  of  the  Department  of 
Public  Instruction,  they  have  been  attacked  for  years 
with  no  small  degree  of  success.  In  these  reports  the 
Director  has  from  time  to  time  noticed  such  matters 
as  the  circulation  of  seditious  leaflets,  the  number  of 
students  implicated  in  conspiracy  cases  and  the  apathy 
of  parents  and  guardians.  But  perhaps  his  most 
instructive  passages  are  the  following,  in  which  he  sets 
out  the  whole  situation  in  regard  to  secondary  English 
schools.  'The  number  of  these  schools,'  he  wrote,  'is 
rapidly  increasing,  and  the  cry  is  for  more  and  more. 
It  is  a  demand  for  tickets  in  a  lottery,  the  prizes  of  which 
are  posts  in  Government  service  and  employment  in 
certain  professions.  The  bhadralok  have  nothing  to  look 
to  but  these  posts,  while  those  who  desire  to  rise  from  a 
lower  social  or  economic  station  have  their  eyes  on 
the  same  goal.  The  middle  classes  in  Bengal  are  gen- 
erally poor,  and  the  increased  stress  of  competition  and 
the  tendency  for  the  average  earnings  of  certain  careers  to 
decrease  —  a  tendency  which  is  bound  to  follow  on  the 
increased  demand  to  enter  them,  coupled  with  the  rise 
in  the  cost  of  living  and  the  inevitable  raising  in  the 
standard  of  comfort  —  all  these  features  continue  to  make 
the  struggle  to  exist  in  these  classes  keener.  Hence  the 
need  to  raise  educational  standards,  to  make  school 
life  a  greater  influence  for  good  and  the  course  of 
instruction  more  thorough  and  more  comprehensive. 
A  need  which  becomes  more  and  more  imperative  as 
life  in  India  becomes  more  complicated  and  more 
exacting  is  confronted  by  a  determined  though  perfectly 
natural  opposition  to  the  raising  of  fees.  .  .  .  Probably 
the  worst  feature  of  the  situation  is  the  low  wages  and  the 
complete  absence  of  prospects  which  are  the  fate  of  teachers 
in  the  secondary  schools.  ...  It  is  easy  to  blame  the 
parents  for  blindness  to  their  sons'  true  good,  but  the 
matriculation  examination  is  the  thing  that  seems  to 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT         l6l 

matter,  so  that  if  his  boy  passes  the  annual  promotion 
examinations  and  is  duly  presented  at  that  examination 
at  the  earliest  possible  date,  the  average  parent  has  no 
criticism  to  offer.  This  is  perfectly  natural,  but  the 
future  of  Bengal  depends  to  a  not  inconsiderable  extent 
on  the  work  done  in  its  secondary  schools,  and  more 
is  required  of  these  institutions  than  an  ability  to  pass 
a  certain  proportion  of  boys  through  the  Calcutta 
University  Matriculation  examination.  .  .  .  The  pres- 
ent condition  of  secondary  schools  is  undoubtedly 
prejudicing  the  development  of  the  presidency  and  is 
by  no  means  a  negligible  feature  in  the  existing  state 
of  general  disturbance.  It  is  customary  to  trace  the 
genesis  of  much  sedition  and  crime  to  the  back  streets 
and  lanes  of  Calcutta  and  Dacca,  where  the  organizers 
of  anarchic  conspiracies  seek  their  agents  from  among 
University  students.  This  view  is  correct  as  far  as  it 
goes,  but  it  is  in  the  high  schools,  with  their  underpaid 
and  discontented  teachers,  their  crowded,  dark  and 
ill-ventilated  classrooms,  and  their  soul-destroying 
process  of  unceasing  cram,  that  the  seeds  of  discontent 
and  fanaticism  are  sown."     [The  italics  are  ours.] 

Yet  for  years  nothing  was  done  to  improve  educa- 
tion, to  make  it  practical  and  creative  and  productive. 
In  fact  nothing  has  been  done  up  till  now. 

Let  the  reader  read  with  this  the  report  of  the 
Indian  Industrial  Commission  recently  issued  under 
the  authority  of  the  Government  of  India  and  he  will 
at  once  find  the  true  causes  which  underlie  the  revolu- 
tionary movement  in  India.  These  causes  are  not  in 
any  way  peculiar  to  Bengal  or  to  the  Punjab,*  they  are 
common  to  the  whole  of  India,  but  they  have  found  a 
fruitful  soil  in  these  provinces  on  account  of  the  rather 
intense  natures  of  the  people  of  these  two  provinces. 
The  Bengali  is  an  intensely  patriotic  and  emotional 
being,  very  sensitive  and  very  resentful;   the  Punjabee 


l62  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

is  intensely  virile,  passionate  and  plucky,  having 
developed  a  strong,  forceful  character  by  centuries  of 
resistance  to  all  kind  of  invasions  and  attacks.  Of  the 
Punjab,  however,  we  will  speak  later  on.  For  the 
present  we  are  concerned  with  Bengal  only.  The 
amazing  phenomenon  mentioned  by  the  committee 
on  p.  20  and  referred  to  by  us  before  is  easily  explained 
by  the  facts  hinted  in  the  Directors'  report  quoted 
above.  And  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  in  the 
matter  of  Government  patronage  Bengal  has  been  the 
most  favored  province  in  India,  throughout  the  period 
of  British  rule.  To  the  Bengalis  have  gone  all  the  first 
appointments  to  offices  that  were  thrown  open  to  the 
natives  of  the  soil.  They  have  been  the  recipients  of 
the  highest  honors  from  the  Government.  Bengal  is 
virtually  the  only  province  permanently  settled  where 
the  Government  cannot  add  to  the  Land  tax  fixed  in 
1793.  The  Bengalis  are  the  people  who  spread  over 
India,  with  every  territorial  extension  of  the  British 
Raj.  They  have  been  the  pampered  and  favored 
children  of  the  Government  and  for  very  good  reasons, 
too.  They  are  the  best  educated  and  the  most  in- 
telligent of  all  the  Indian  peoples.  They  know  how 
to  adapt  themselves  to  all  conditions  and  circumstances, 
they  know  how  to  enjoy  and  also  how  to  suffer.  They 
have  subtle  brains  and  supple  bodies.  The  British 
Government  could  not  do  without  them.  It  cannot 
do  without  them  even  now.  Yet  it  was  this  most 
loyal  and  most  dutiful,  this  most  westernized  and  the 
best  educated  class  which  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
revolutionary  movement  and  has  been  carrying  it 
on  successfully  in  face  of  all  the  forces  of  such  a 
mighty  Government  as  that  of  the  British  in  India. 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENT  1 63 

What  is  the  reason?  It  is  the  utter  economic  helpless- 
ness of  the  younger  generation,  aided  by  a  sense  of 
extreme  humiliation  and  degradation.  The  Govern- 
ment never  earnestly  applied  itself  to  the  solution  of 
the  problem.  They  did  nothing  to  reduce  poverty 
and  make  education  practical.  Every  time  the 
budget  was  discussed  the  Indian  members  pressed  for 
increased  expenditure  on  education.  All  their  pro- 
posals and  motions  were  rejected  by  the  standing 
official  majorities  backed  by  the  whole  force  of  non- 
official  Europeans  including  the  missionaries.  The 
Government  thus  deliberately  sowed  the  wind.  Is 
there  any  wonder  that  it  is  now  reaping  the  whirlwind? 
The  cause  is  economic;  the  remedy  must  be  economic. 
Make  education  practical,  foster  industries,  open  all 
Government  careers  to  the  sons  of  the  soil,  reduce  the 
cost  on  the  military  and  civil  services,  let  the  people 
determine  the  fiscal  policy  of  the  country  and  the 
revolutionary  movement  will  subside.  Die  it  will  not, 
so  long  as  there  is  foreign  domination  and  foreign 
exploitation.  Even  after  India  has  attained  Home 
Rule  it  will  not  die.  It  has  come  to  stay.  India  is 
a  part  of  the  world  and  revolution  is  in  the  air  all 
the  world  over.  The  effort  to  kill  it  by  repression 
and  suppression  is  futile,  unwise  and  stupid. 


i- 


XIII 
THE   PUNJAB 

We  may  now  consider  the  case  of  the  Punjab. 
Lord  Morley's  verdict  notwithstanding,  it  is  abundantly 
clear  that  the  troubles  of  1907,  with  which  the  history 
of  unrest  in  the  Punjab  begins,  were  principally 
agrarian  in  their  origin.  Lord  Morley's  speech  in 
the  House  of  Commons  (in  1907)  as  to  the  root  of  the 
trouble  was  based  on  reports  supplied  to  him  by  the 
Government  of  the  Punjab  and  we  know  from  personal 
knowledge  how  unreliable  many  of  these  reports  are. 
We  may  here  illustrate  this  point  by  a  few  extracts 
from  these  documents. 

(1)  Lord  Morley  stated  that:  " There  were  twenty- 
eight  meetings  known  to  have  been  held  by  the  leading 
agitators  in  the  Punjab  between  1st  March  and  1st 
May.  Of  these  five  only  related,  even  ostensibly, 
to  agricultural  grievances;  the  remaining  twenty- 
three  were  all  purely  political." 

The  number  of  meetings  held  from  March  1  to  May 
1,  1907  was,  at  the  lowest  calculation,  at  least  double 
of  28,  or  perhaps  treble,  and  most  of  them  related  "even 
ostensibly  to  agricultural  grievances";  the  number  of 
purely  political  meetings  could  not  have  exceeded  ten 
or  twelve. 

(2)  On  p.  61  the  committee  writes  that  "Chatarji's 

164 


THE  PUNJAB  165 

father  too  had  ordered  him  home  on  discovering  that 
he  was  staying  with  Hardayal  in  the  house  of  Lajpat 
Rai."  The  whole  of  this  statement  is  absolutely  false. 
I  am  prepared  to  swear  and  to  prove  that  Chatarji  did 
not  stay  in  my  house  even  for  a  single  night.  He 
came  there  a  few  times  with  Hardayal.  Hardayal 
was  at  that  time  living  in  a  house  he  had  rented  for 
himself  in  the  native  city  about  one  mile  from  my 
place  which  is  in  the  Civil  Station  on  the  Lower 
Mall. 

On  the  same  page  the  committee  has  approvingly 
quoted  a  sentence  from  the  judgment  of  the  Sessions 
Judge  in  the  Delhi  Conspiracy  Case.  Speaking  of 
Amir  Chand,  one  of  the  accused  in  that  case  who  was 
sentenced  to  death,  the  Sessions  Judge  describes  him 
as  "one  who  spent  his  life  in  furthering  murderous 
schemes  which  he  was  too  timid  to  carry  out  himself." 
Now  I  happen  to  have  known  this  man  for  about 
20  years  before  his  conviction.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
he  was  rightly  convicted  in  this  case  but  I  have  no 
doubt  also  that  this  description  of  him  by  the  Sessions 
Judge  was  absolutely  wrong.  Up  till  19 10  the  man 
had  led  an  absolutely  harmless  life,  helping  students 
in  their  studies  and  otherwise  rendering  assistance, 
according  to  his  means,  to  other  needy  people.  No 
one  ever  credited  him  with  violent  views.  His  revolu- 
tionary career  began  in  1908.  Before  that  he  could 
not  and  would  not  have  tolerated  even  the  killing  of 
an  ant,  much  less  that  of  human  beings. 

In  governments  by  bureaucracies  one  of  the  standing 
formulas  of  official  etiquette  is  never  to  question  the 
findings  of  facts  arrived  at  by  your  superiors  or  prede- 
cessors.    This  naturally  leads  to  the  perpetuation  of 


1 66  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

mistakes.  A  wrong  conclusion  once  accepted  continues 
to  be  good  for  all  times  to  come.  The  Rowlatt  Com- 
mittee has  studiously  acted  on  that  formula  throughout 
its  present  inquiry.  They  have  invariably  accepted 
the  findings  of  executive  and  judicial  authorities 
preceding  them  about  the  incidents  that  happened 
since  1907,  without  making  any  independent  inquiry 
of  their  own.  Hence  their  opinion  about  the  original 
or  the  principal  cause  of  the  unrest  of  1907  in  the 
Punjab  is  not  entitled  to  greater  weight  than  that  of 
the  Punjab  officials  whose  mishandling  of  the  affairs 
of  the  province  produced  the  unrest.  One  ounce  of 
fact,  however,  is  of  greater  weight  in  the  determination 
of  issues  than  even  a  hundred  theories.  The  fact  that 
the  Government  of  India  had  to  veto  the  Punjab 
Government's  Land  Colonies  Act  in  order  to  allay  the 
unrest  proves  conclusively  that  the  unrest  was  due  to 
agrarian  trouble. 

The  unrest  of  1907  subsided  after  the  repeal  of  the 
land  legislation  of  1907,  but  the  legacy  it  left  is  still 
operative. 

The  Sikhs  and  the  Mussulmans  of  the  Punjab,  as 
well  as  the  military  classes  among  the  Hindus,  the 
Rajputs  and  the  Jats,  are  the  most  virile  portions  of 
the  population.  They  have  fought  the  battles  of  the 
Empire.  In  the  interests  of  the  Empire  they  have 
travelled  far  and  wide.  Yet  we  find  that  educationally, 
as  well  as  economically,  they  have  suffered  most. 
They  have  the  largest  numbers  of  illiterates  among 
them.  They  are  the  least  developed  and  the  least  ♦ 
progressive  of  all  the  classes  in  the  Punjab.  They 
are  heavily  in  debt.  The  Government  has  occasionally 
recognised  it  and  has  tried  to  satisfy  them  by  pref- 


THE  PUNJAB  167 

erential  treatment  in  the  filling  of  Government  posts, 
or  in  the  bestowal  of  titles  or  in  nominating  their 
supposed  leaders  to  Legislative  Councils.  These  ridicu- 
lous palliative  measures,  however,  have  failed  in  their 
objective.  The  classes  disaffected  do  not  get  any 
satisfaction  by  these  palliative  measures.  They  need 
opportunities  of  education  and  economic  betterment. 
These  could  not  be  provided  without  making  education 
general  and  without  a  more  equitable  distribution  of 
land  among  the  agricultural  classes  and  the  inaugura- 
tion of  industries  other  than  agriculture.  This  the 
Government  never  cared  to  do.  The  Sikhs  and  the 
Mussulmans  naturally  directed  their  attention  to 
emigration. 

The  opportunities  they  found  in  other  parts  of  the 
Empire  whetted  their  appetites.  They  compared  the 
conditions  abroad  with  conditions  at  home  and  drew 
their  own  conclusions.  Having  helped  in  the  expan- 
sion and  development  of  the  Empire  they  thought 
they  were  entitled  to  benefit  therefrom.  They  de- 
manded fair  treatment.  Instead  they  found  the  doors 
shut  upon  them.  Even  those  that  had  been  admitted 
were  made  to  feel  the  humiliation  of  their  position. 
Deliberate,  active,  concerted  measures  were  taken  to 
drive  them  away  or  to  make  life  for  them  intolerable. 
Their  wives  and  children  were  refused  admittance  and 
various  pretexts  were  invented  to  keep  them  out  or  to 
drive  them  away.  (The  revolutionary  movement  in 
the  Punjab  amounted  to  nothing  until  it  was  rein- 
forced by  the  return  of  the  Sikh  members  of  the  Ghadr 
party  during  the  war.  The  Committee  has  failed  to 
answer  the  question:  Why  did  the  Sikhs  of  Vancouver 
and   California  readily  fall    in     with   the  schemes  of 


1 68  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

Hardayal  and  Barkat  UUah,  the  alleged  founders  of 
the  revolutionary  party  of  California?  These  latter 
had  nothing  in  common  with  the  Sikhs.  In  language 
and  religion,  by  habits  and  associations,  they  were 
poles  apart  from  each  other.  Why  did  then  Hardayal's 
propaganda  find  such  a  ready  soil  among  the  Sikhs  of 
Vancouver  B.  C.     We  quote  from  the  report: 

"The  doctrines  which  he  preached  and  circulated 
had  reached  the  Sikhs  and  other  Indians  resident  in 
British  Columbia.  At  a  meeting  in  Vancouver  in 
December,  1913,  a  poem  from  the  Ghadr  newspaper 
was  read,  in  which  the  Hindus  were  urged  to  expel  the 
British  from  India.  The  main  grievance  of  the  Van- 
couver Indians  was  the  Canadian  immigration  law 
under  which  every  intending  Asiatic  immigrant,  with 
a  few  particular  exceptions,  has  to  satisfy  the  Canadian 
authorities  that  he  is  in  possession  of  200  dollars  and 
has  travelled  by  a  continuous  1  journey  on  a  through 
ticket  from  his  native  country  to  Canada.  In  19 13 
three  Sikh  delegates  visited  the  Punjab.  They  had 
come  from  America  and  were  members  of  the  Ghadr 
party  who  had  come  to  reconnoitre  the  position. 
Their  real  purpose  was  recognised  after  their  departure. 
They  addressed  meetings  at  various  towns  on  the 
subject  of  the  grievances  of  Indians  in  Canada  and 
caused  resolutions  of  protest  to  be  passed  in  which  all 
communities  joined." 

Again,  tracing  the  origin  of  the  Budge-Budge  riot, 
the  Committee  remarks:  > 

"The  central  figure  in  the  narrative  is  a  certain 
Gurdit  Singh,  a  Sikh  of  the  Amritsar  district  in  the 
Punjab,  who  had  emigrated  from  India  15  years  before, 
and  had  for  some  time  carried  on  business  as  a  con- 

^There  never  was  a  continuous  steamer  service  between  India  and 
Canada. 


THE  PUNJAB  169 

tractor  in  Singapore  and  the  Malay  States.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  he  returned  to  this  country  about 
1909.  He  was  certainly  absent  from  Singapore  for  a 
space;  and  when  he  returned  there,  going  on  to  Hong 
Kong,  he  interested  himself  in  chartering  a  ship  for 
the  conveyance  of  Punjabis  to  Canada.  Punjabis, 
and  especially  Sikhs,  frequently  seek  employment  in 
the  Far  East,  and  have  for  some  time  been  tempted 
by  the  higher  wages  procurable  in  Canada.  But  their 
admission  to  that  country  is  to  some  extent  impeded 
by  the  immigration  laws  which  we  have  described 
already. 

There  were  already  in  Canada  about  4,000  Indians, 
chiefly  Punjabis.  Some  of  these  were  revolutionists  of 
the  Hardayal  school,  some  were  loyal,  and  some  had 
migrated  from  the  United  States  on  account  of  labour 
differences  there.  The  Committee  of  Enquiry,  which 
subsequently  investigated  the  whole  affair,  considered 
that  Gurdit  Singh's  action  had  been  much  influenced 
by  advice  and  encouragement  received  from  Indian 
residents  in  Canada.  At  any  rate,  after  failing  to 
secure  a  ship  at  Calcutta,  he  chartered  a  Japanese 
vessel  named  the  Komagata  Maru  through  a  German 
agent  at  Hong  Kong.  He  issued  tickets  and  took  in 
passengers  at  that  post,  at  Shanghai,  at  Moji  and  at 
Yokohama.  He  certainly  knew  what  the  Canadian 
law  was,  but  perhaps  hoped  to  evade  it  by  means  of 
some  appeal  to  the  courts  or  by  exercising  political 
pressure.  It  is  equally  certain  that  many  of  his  pas- 
sengers had  no  clear  comprehension  of  their  prospects. 
The  Tribunal  that  subsequently  tried  the  first  batch 
of  Lahore  conspirators  held  that  probably  Gurdit 
Singh's  main  object  was  to  cause  an  inflammatory 
episode,  as  one  of  the  witnesses  stated  that  Gurdit 
Singh  told  his  followers  that  should  they  be  refused 
admission,  they  would  return  to  India  to  expel  the 
British.  On  April  the  4th,  19 14,  the  Komagata 
Maru  sailed  from  Hong  Kong.  On  the  23rd  of  May 
the  Komagata  Maru  arrived  at  Vancouver  with  351 
Sikhs  and  21  Punjabi  Muhammadans  on  board.     The 


I70  THE   POLITICAL   FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

local  authorities  refused  to  allow  landing  except  in  a 
very  few  cases,  as  the  immigrants  had  not  complied 
with  the  requirements  of  the  law.  Protests  were 
made,  and,  while  negotiations  were  proceeding,  a 
balance  of  22,000  dollars  still  due  for  the  hire  of  the 
ship  was  paid  by  Vancouver  Indians,  and  the  charter 
was  transferred  to  two  prominent  malcontents.  .  .  . 
A  body  of  police  was  sent  to  enforce  the  orders  of  the 
Canadian  Government  that  the  vessel  should  leave; 
but  with  the  assistance  of  firearms,  the  police  were 
beaten  off,  and  it  was  only  when  a  Government  vessel 
was  requisitioned  with  armed  force  that  the  Komagata 
Maru  passengers,  who  had  prevented  their  Captain 
from  weighing  anchor  or  getting  up  steam,  were 
brought  to  terms.  On  the  23rd  of  July  they  started 
on  their  return  journey  with  an  ample  stock  of  pro- 
visions allowed  them  by  the  Canadian  Government. 
They  were  by  this  time  in  a  very  bad  temper  as  many  had 
staked  all  their  possessions  on  this  venture,  and  had 
started  in  the  full  belief  that  the  British  Government  would 
assure  and  guarantee  their  admission  to  a  land  of  plenty. 
This  temper  had  been  greatly  aggravated  by  direct 
revolutionary  influences.  .  .  . 

"During  the  return  voyage  the  War  broke  out. 
On  hearing  at  Yokohama  that  his  ship's  company 
would  not  be  allowed  to  land  at  Hong  Kong,  Gurdit 
Singh  replied  that  they  were  perfectly  willing  to  go  to 
any  port  in  India  if  provisions  were  supplied.  The 
British  Consul  at  Yokohama  declined  to  meet  his 
demands,  which  were  exorbitant;  but  the  consul  at 
Kobe  was  more  compliant,  and  after  telegraphic  com- 
munication between  Japan  and  India,  the  Komagata 
Maru  started  for  Calcutta.  At  neither  Hong  Kong 
nor  Singapore  were  the  passengers  allowed  to  land. 
This  added  to  their  annoyance,  as,  according  to  the 
findings  of  the  Committee,  many  had  not  wished  to 
return  to  India  at  all." 

The  Committee  found  that  most  of  the  passengers 
were  disposed  to  blame  the  Government  of  India  for 
all  their  misfortunes.     "It  is  well  known,"  states  the 


THE   PUNJAB  171 

Report,  "that  the  average  Indian  makes  no  distinction 
between  the  Government  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
that  of  Canada,  and  that  of  British  India,  or  that  of 
any  colony.  To  him  these  authorities  are  all  one  and 
the  same.  And  this  view  of  the  whole  Komagata  Maru 
business  was  t)v  no  means  confined  to  the  passengers 
on  the  ship.  ;lt  inspired  some  Sikhs  of  the  Punjab 
with  the  idea  that  the  Government  was  biased  against 
them;  and  it  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Ghadr 
revolutionaries  who  were  urging  Sikhs  abroad  to  return 
to  India  and  join  the  mutiny  which,  they  asserted, 
was  about  to  begin.  Numbers  of  emigrants  listened 
to  such  calls  and  hastened  back  to  India  from  Canada, 
the  United  States,  the  Philippines,  Hong  Kong  and 
China."    [The  italics  are  ours.] 


We  have  given  this  extract  to  show  the  real  cause  of 
the  growth  of  the  revolutionary  movement  among  the 
Sikhs.  Let  the  reader  omit,  if  he  can,  for  a  moment, 
all  references  to  active  revolutionary  propaganda  and 
he  will  find  that  the  underlying  cause  of  this  trouble 
was  economic.  Why  did  the  Sikhs  want  to  emigrate 
to  Canada?  Why  did  they  stake  all  their  possessions 
on  the  venture?  Why  were  they  unwilling  to  return 
to  India  at  all?  Because  the  economic  conditions  at\ 
home  were  so  bad  and  the  prospects  abroad  so  good.  \ 
At  home  their  lands  were  not  sufficient  to  absorb  all 
their  energies,  the  income  was  not  sufficient  to  keep 
body  and  soul  together  and,  in  a  majority  of  cases, 
what  they  made  from  land  was  hardly  more  than 
sufficient  to  pay  Land  Revenue  to  the  Government 
and  interest  to  the  money-lender.  There  was  nothing 
to  bind  them  to  their  homes  except  the  love  of  home 
land  and  the  domestic  ties.  These  melted  away  in 
the  presence  of  dire  necessity.     In  extreme  need  they 


172  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

left  their  homes  to  make  more  money  to  be  able  to 
pay  their  debts,  to  redeem  their  lands,  if  possible  to 
purchase  more  land  and  to  make  life  bearable  and 
tolerable.  When  they  came  in  the  open  world  they 
found  insurmountable  barriers  between  them  and 
plenty.  They  had  helped  in  making  the  empire; 
the  empire  had  enough  land  for  all  her  sons  and  daugh- 
ters; men  were  urgently  needed  to  bring  land  into 
cultivation  and  otherwise  to  develop  the  empire;  men 
of  other  races  and  colours  were  not  only  welcome  but 
were  being  induced  to  come  and  settle  by  offers  of  all 
kinds.  They,  and  they  alone,  were  unwelcome  and 
barred. 

Add  to  this  the  attitude  and  the  record  of  the  Punjab 
Government  towards  political  agitation  and  political 
agitators,  to  use  their  own  favorite  expressions.  The 
Punjab  Government  was  the  first  to  resuscitate  the 
old  Regulation  III  of  1818  for  the  purpose  of  scotching 
a  legitimate  agitation  against  an  obnoxious  legislative 
measure.  A  wise  and  sagacious  Government  would 
have  dropped  the  legislation  which  it  was  eventually 
found  necessary  to  veto  to  maintain  peace.  The 
deportations  drove  the  seeds  of  unrest  deeper.  The 
other  contributory  causes  may  be  thus  summed  up: 

(1)  The  Punjab  Government  has  been  the  most 
relentless  of  all  local  governments  in  India  in  suppress- 
ing freedom  of  speech  and  press. 

(2)  The  Punjab  Government  at  one  time  was  very 
foolishly  zealous  in  persecuting  the  Arya  Samajists  and 
in  making  a  mountain  out  of  a  molehill  about  the 
letters  found  in  the  possession  of  Parmanand. 

(3)  The  sentences  which  the  Punjab  Courts  have 
passed  in  cases  of  seditious  libel  are  marked  by  such 


THE  PUNJAB  173 

brutality   as   to   make   them   notably   unique   in   the 
history  of  criminal  administration  in  India. 

(4)  The  strangulation  of  all  open  political  life  by 
direct  and  indirect  repression  led  to  the  adoption  of 
secret  methods. 

(5)  The  sentences  passed  in  the  Delhi  Conspiracy 
case  were  much  more  severe  than  those  given  in  Bengal 
in  similar  cases.  In  this  case  four  men  were  hanged, 
two  of  them  only  because  of  membership  in  the  secret 
conspiracy  and  not  for  actual  participation  in  the 
outrage  that  was  the  subject  of  the  charge,  and  two 
others  were  sentenced  to  seven  years  rigorous  imprison- 
ment each. 

(6)  The  Budge-Budge  riot  and  the  considerable  loss 
of  life  that  resulted  therefrom  was  another  case  of 
stupid  management  and  utter  incapacity  to  handle  a 
delicate  situation. 

(7)  For  the  Lahore  Conspiracy  28  persons  were 
hanged,  and  about  90  sentenced  to  long  terms  of 
imprisonment  and  transportation  for  life.  But  for 
the  interference  of  Lord  Hardinge  the  hangings  would 
have  exceeded  50.  In  addition  some  mutinous  soldiers 
of  two  regiments  were  tried  by  Court  Martial  and  a 
few  murderous  robbers  and  train-wreckers  were  dealt 
with  by  the  ordinary  courts.  The  reader  may  well 
compare  this  with  the  record  of  convictions  relating 
to  Bengal. 

Now,  we  have  not  the  slightest  intention  of  justifying 
the  conduct  of  those  who  conspired  to  overthrow  the 
Government  by  force,  or  who  committed  murders, 
robberies  or  other  offences  in  the  furtherance  of  that 
design.  In  our  judgment  only  madmen,  ignorant  of 
the  conditions  of  their  country,  could  have  been  guilty 


174  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

of  such  crimes.  Nor  are  we  inclined  to  blame  the 
Government  much  for  the  sharp  steps  they  took  to 
preserve  order  and  maintain  their  authority  during 
the  war .  But,  after  all  has  been  said,  we  must  reiterate 
that  the  underlying  causes  were  economic  and  were 
the  direct  result  of  Government  policy. 


XIV 

RECOMMENDATIONS   FOR   REPRESSIVE 
LEGISLATION 

The  Committee  has  said  all  that  it  could  against 
individual  publicists,  Indian  public  movements  and 
the  native  press.  They  have  found  no  fault  with  the 
Anglo-Indian  press  and  the  Government.  The  whole 
force  of  their  judicial  acumen  has  been  applied  in 
recommending  fresh  measures  of  repression  and 
suppression  which  they  have  divided  into  two  kinds: 

Punitive  Measures,  Permanent,  (a)  Points  of  Gen- 
eral Application.  The  measures  which  we  shall  sub- 
mit are  of  two  kinds,  viz.,  Punitive,  by  which  term 
we  mean  measures  better  to  secure  the  conviction  and 
punishment  of  offenders,  and  Preventive,  i.e.,  measures 
to  check  the  spread  of  conspiracy  and  the  commission 
of  crime. 

We  may  say  at  once  that  we  do  not  expect  very 
much  from  punitive  measures.1  The  conviction  of 
offenders  will  never  check  such  a  movement  as  that 
which  grew  up  in  Bengal  unless  all  the  leaders  can  be 

1  The  Government  of  India  have  been  on  the  inclined  plane  of 
repression  as  a  remedy  of  discontent,  which  sometimes  leads  to 
crime,  for  now  more  than  twenty  years.  They  have  in  the  interval 
placed  on  the  Statute  Book  the  Penal  and  Criminal  Procedure  Codes, 
the  Post  Office  Amendment  Acts,  the  Official  Secrets  Act,  the 
Seditious  Meetings  Act,  the  Incitement  to  Offences  Act,  the  Criminal 
Law  Amendment  Act,  the  Press  Act,  the  Conspiracy  Act,  and  the 
Defence  of  India  Act.  Have  they  attained  their  object?  The  very 
introduction  of  the  two  new  Bills  ...  is  the  eloquent  answer. 
What  is  it  but  a  confession  of  failure?  .   .    .  Leader,  Allahabad. 

175 


176  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

convicted  at  the  outset.  Further,  the  real  difficulties 
have  been  the  scarcity  of  evidence  due  to  various 
causes  and  the  want  of  reliance  whether  justified  or 
not,  on  such  evidence  as  there  has  been.  The  last 
difficulty  is  fundamental  and  cannot  be  remedied. 
No  law  can  direct  a  court  to  be  convinced  when  it  is 
not. 

Punitive  Measures  (Permanent). 
Legislation  directed  better  to  secure  the  punishment 
of  seditious  crime  may  take  the  shape  either  — 

(a)  of  changes  in  the  general  law  of  evidence  or 

procedure  which  if  sound  would  be  advisable 
in  regard  to  all  crime,  or 

(b)  changes  in  the  substantive  law  of  sedition  or 

modifications  in  the  rules  of  evidence  and 
procedure  in  such  cases  designed  to  deal  with 
the  special  features  of  that  class  of  offence. 

The  recommendation  under   (a)   does  not  amount 
to  much  and  we  will  not  mention  it. 
Under  (b)  they  recommend: 

In  the  first  place  we  think  that  a  permanent  enact- 
ment on  the  lines  of  Rule  25 A  under  the  Defence  of 
India  Act  is  required.  That  rule  provides  for  the 
punishment  of  persons  having  prohibited  documents 
(which  may  have  to  be  defined  anew)  in  their  posses- 
sion or  control  with  (as  we  read  the  effect  of  the  words 
used)  intent  to  publish  or  circulate  them.  .  .  . 

We  also  recommend  that  the  principle  of  section  565 
of  the  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure  (which  provides 
for  an  order  requiring  notification  of  residence  after 
release  in  the  case  of  persons  convicted  a  second  time 
for  certain  offences)  should  be  extended  to  all  persons 
convicted  of  offences  under  Chapter  VI  of  the  Penal 
Code  (offences  against  the  State)  whether  previously 
convicted  or  not.  Such  persons  might  be  ordered  to 
give  security  for  a  period  not  exceeding  two  years  for 
good  behaviour  so  far  as  offences  under  Chapter  VI 


REPRESSIVE  LEGISLATION  177 

are  concerned,  and  in  default  be  directed  to  notify 
their  residence  to  Government,  who  should  have  power 
to  restrict  their  movements  for  the  period  of  two  years 
after  their  release  and  prohibit  them  from  addressing 
public  meetings,  — the  term  " public  meetings"  includ- 
ing in  its  scope  political  subjects  as  in  section  4  of  the 
Prevention  of  Seditious  Meetings  Act  of  1907. 

Lastly,  we  think  that  in  all  cases  where  there  is  a 
question  of  seditious  intent,  evidence  of  previous 
conviction  for  seditious  crime  or  association  (of  an 
incriminating  kind,  of  course)  with  persons  so  con- 
victed should  be  admissible  upon  written  notice  to  the 
accused  with  such  particulars  and  at  such  a  time 
before  the  evidence  is  given  as  might  be  fair.  What 
we  have  called  seditious  crime  would  of  course  have 
to  be  accurately  denned. 

Now  it  is  evident  that  after  such  legislation  all  liberty 
of  speech  and  action  becomes  extinct.  These  recom- 
mendations will  we  fear  directly  lead  to  secret  propa- 
ganda and  secret  action. 

Under  the  head  of  emergency  punitive  measures  the 
committee  recommends: 

Emergency  Provisions  for  Trials.  Coming  now  to 
the  measures  themselves,  we  are  of  opinion  that 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  trial  of  seditious 
crime  by  Benches  of  three  Judges  without  juries  or 
assessors  and  without  preliminary  commitment  pro- 
ceedings or  appeal.  In  short,  the  procedure  we 
recommend  should  follow  the  lines  laid  down  in  sections 
5-9  inclusive  of  the  Defence  of  India  Act.  It  should 
be  made  clear  that  section  512  of  the  Code  of  Criminal 
Procedure  (relating  to  the  giving  in  evidence  under 
certain  circumstances  of  depositions  taken  in  the 
absence  of  an  absconding  accused)  applies  to  these 
trials,  it  having,  we  understand,  been  questioned 
whether  section  7  of  the  Defence  of  India  Act  has  that 
effect. 


178  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

We  think  it  necessary  to  exclude  juries  and  assessors 
mainly  because  of  the  terrorism  to  which  they  are 
liable.  But  terrorism  apart,  we  do  not  think  that 
they  can  be  relied  upon  in  this  class  of  cases.  They 
are  too  much  inclined  to  be  affected  by  public  discus- 
sion. 

We  omit  the  detailed  discussion  of  these  provisions 
in  which  the  committee  has  attempted  to  soften  the 
sting  of  these  recommendations  by  giving  their  reasons 
and  by  suggesting  certain  safeguards  against  their 
abuse.  The  most  startling  of  their  recommendations 
are  however  made  under  the  head  of  emergency 
preventive  measures. 

Emergency  Preventive  Measures.  We  have  been 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  necessary,  in  order 
to  keep  the  conspiracies  already  described  under 
control  in  the  future,  to  provide  for  the  continuance 
after  the  expiry  of  the  Defence  of  India  Act  (though  in 
the  contingent  form  explained  and  under  important 
limitations)  of  some  of  the  powers  which  that  measure 
introduced  in  a  temporary  form.  By  those  means 
alone  has  the  conspiracy  been  paralysed  for  the  present 
and  we  are  unable  to  devise  any  expedient  operating 
according  to  strict  judicial  forms  which  can  be  relied 
upon  to  prevent  its  reviving  to  check  it  if  it  does 
revive,  or,  in  the  last  resort,  to  suppress  it  anew.  This 
will  involve  some  infringement  of  the  rules  normally 
safeguarding  the  liberty  of  the  subject.  We  have 
endeavored  to  make  that  infringement  as  small  as  we 
think  possible  consistently  with  the  production  of  an 
effective  scheme. 

Existing  Temporary  Powers.  The  powers  at  present 
temporarily  possessed  by  the  Government  are  so  far 
as  material  for  the  present  purpose  to  be  found  in 
rules  3-7  inclusive  and  12A  under  the  Defence  of 
India  Act,  191 5.  .  We  do  not  refer  for  the  present  to 


REPRESSIVE   LEGISLATION  170 

the  Foreigners  Ordinance,  1914,  or  the  Ingress  into 
India  Ordinance,  1914.  .  .  .  Shortly  stated,  their 
effect  is  to  give  power  to  require  persons  by  executive 
order  to  remain  in  any  area  to  be  specified  or  not  to 
enter  or  remain  in  any  such  area,  with  penalties  for 
breach  of  such  requirements.  These  orders  may  be 
made  and  served  on  the  person  affected,  whereupon 
they  become  binding  upon  him,  or  the  person  may  be 
arrested  without  warrant  and  detained  for  a  period 
not  exceeding  in  all  one  month,  pending  an  order  of 
restriction.  There  is  also  a  power  of  search  under 
search  warrant.  It  will  be  observed  there  is  no  pro- 
vision for  an  examination  of  the  cases  of  such  persons. 
The  decision  lies  solely  with  the  Local  Government. 
There  is  also  the  power  of  confinement  under  Regula- 
tion III  of  1818. 


Again: 

"Two  Grades  of  Powers  Desirable.  —  We  now 
proceed  to  elaborate  .  .  .  the  scheme  we  suggest. 

"We  think,  as  we  have  already  indicated,  that  the 
powers  to  be  acquired  should  be  of  two  grades  capable 
of  being  called  into  operation  separately,  possibly 
under  different  forms  of  notification. 

"  The  first  group  of  powers  should  be  of  the  following 
nature:  — 

"(i)    to  demand  security  with  or  without  sureties; 

"  (ii)  to  restrict  residence  or  to  require  notification  of 
change  of  residence; 

"  (iii)  to  require  abstention  from  certain  acts,  such  as 
engaging  in  journalism,  distributing  leaflets 
or  attending  meetings; 

"  (iv)  to  require  that  the  person  should  periodically 
report  to  the  police. 

"The  second  group  of  powers  should  be  — 

"(i)    to  arrest; 

"(ii)    to  search  under  warrant; 

"  (iii)    to  confine  in  non-penal  custody. 


l8o  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

"In  Article  196  they  provide  "that  in  respect  of 
acts  committed  before  the  Defence  of  India  Act  expires 
(or  an  earlier  date  if  preferred)  and  danger  apprehended 
by  reason  of  such  acts  in  the  future  it  should  be  lawful 
to  proceed  against  any  person  under  any  of  the  pro- 
visions which  we  have  outlined  without  any  notifica- 
tion. In  other  words,  the  new  law  is  to  be  deemed  to 
be  operative  for  that  purpose  immediately. " 

Articles  198  and  199  suggest  measures  for  restricting 
"Ingress  into  India"  and  also  for  regulating  and 
restricting  "Inter-Provincial  Movements." 

Need  it  be  said  that  if  these  recommendations  are 
accepted  there  will  be  no  liberty  of  press  or  speech  in 
India  and  the  Reform  will  fail  to  suppress  the  revolu- 
tionary movement  at  all.  Indian  opinion  is  unanimous 
in  condemning  these  recommendations  as  has  been 
proved  by  the  unanimous  opposition  of  all  sections  of 
Indians  in  the  Viceroy's  Legislative  Council  to  the 
bills  that  have  been  introduced  to  give  effect  to  them. 


XV 

THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PARTY 

Revolution  is  a  fever  brought  about  by 
the  constant  and  reckless  disregard  of  the 
laws  of  health  in  the  government  of  a 
country. 

David  Lloyd  George 

"Causes  and  Aims  of  the  War."  Speech 
delivered  at  Glasgow,  on  being  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  that  city,  June  29, 
1917. 

The  authors  of  the  report  remark: 

"  There  exists  a  small  revolutionary  party  deluded 
by  hatred  of  British  rule  and  desire  for  the  elimination 
of  the  Englishman  into  the  belief  that  the  path  to 
independence  or  constitutional  liberty  lies  through 
anarchical  crime.  Now  it  may  be  that  such  persons 
will  see  for  themselves  the  wisdom  of  abandoning 
methods  which  are  as  futile  as  criminal;  though  if 
they  do  not,  the  powers  of  the  law  are  or  can  be  made 
sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of  order.  But  the 
existence  of  such  people  is  a  warning  against  the 
possible  consequences  of  unrestrained  agitation  in 
India.  We  are  justified  in  calling  on  the  political 
leaders,  in  the  work  of  education  that  they  will  under- 
take, to  bear  carefully  in  mind  the  political  inexperience 
of  their  hearers;  and  to  look  for  further  progress  not 
to  fiery  agitation  which  may  have  consequences  quite 
beyond  their  grasp,  but  to  the  machinery  which  we 

181 


1 82  THE   POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

devise  for  the  purpose.  In  every  country  there  will 
be  persons  who  love  agitation  for  agitation's  sake  or 
to  whom  it  appeals  like  an  intoxicant.  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  leaders  of  Indian  opinion  to  remember  the  effect 
on  people  not  accustomed  to  weighing  words  of  fiery 
and  heated  speeches.  Where  ignorance  is  wide- 
spread and  passions  are  so  easily  aroused,  nothing  is 
easier  than  for  political  leaders  to  excite  a  storm; 
nothing  harder  for  them  than  to  allay  it.  Breaches  of 
the  peace  or  crimes  of  violence  only  put  back  the 
political  clock.  Above  all  things,  when  the  future  of 
India  depends  upon  co-operation  among  all  races, 
attacks  upon  one  race  or  religion  or  upon  another 
jeopardise  the  whole  experiment.  Nor  can  the  con- 
demnation of  extremist  and  revolutionary  action  be 
left  only  to  the  official  classes.  We  call  upon  all  those 
who  claim  to  be  leaders  to  condemn  with  us  and  to 
support  us  in  dealing  with  methods  of  agitation  which 
drive  schoolboys  to  crime  and  lead  to  religious  and 
agrarian  disturbance.  Now  that  His  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment have  declared  their  policy,  reasonable  men 
have  something  which  they  can  oppose  successfully  to 
the  excitement  created  by  attacks  on  Government  and 
by  abuse  of  Englishmen,  coupled  with  glowing  and 
inaccurate  accounts  of  India's  golden  past  and  appeals 
to  race  hatred  in  the  name  of  religion.  Many  promi- 
nent Indians  dislike  and  fear  such  methods.  A  new 
opportunity  is  now  being  offered  to  combat  them; 
and  we  expect  them  to  take  it.  Disorder  must  be 
prejudicial  to  the  cause  of  progress  and  especially 
disorder  as  a  political  weapon." 

We  are  in  general  agreement  with  the  sentiments 
expressed  in  this  extract  but  we  will  be  wanting  in 
candour  if  we  fail  to  point  out  that,  though  the  revolu- 
tionary movement  in  India  is  mainly  political,  it  is 
partly  economic  and  partly  anarchic  also.  In  the 
first  two  aspects  it  is  at  present  the  product  of  purely  | 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PARTY  1 83 

local  (Indian)  conditions.  In  the  last,  it  is  the  reaction 
of  world  forces.  While  we  are  hoping  that  the  change 
in  the  policy,  now  announced,  will  remove  the  political 
basis  of  it,  we  are  not  quite  sure  that  that  will  ensure 
the  extermination  of  the  party  or  the  total  destruction 
of  the  movement.  The  growth  of  democratic  political 
institutions  in  India  must  inevitably  be  followed  by  a 
movement  for  social  democracy.  The  spirit  of  Revolu- 
tion which  is  now  fed  by  political  inequalities  will, 
when  these  are  removed,  find  its  sustenance  in 
social  inequalities.  That  movement  may  not  be  anti- 
British;  perhaps  it  will  not  be,  but  that  it  will  have 
some  revolutionary  element  in  it  may  be  assumed. 
The  lessons  of  history  make  it  clear  that  the  most 
effective  way  to  prevent  its  falling  into  channels  of 
violence  is  to  have  as  little  recourse  to  coercion  as 
may  be  consistent  with  the  preservation  of  general 
order  and  peace.  The  preservation  of  order  and  the 
unhindered  exercise  of  private  rights  by  all  citizens  is 
the  pre-requisite  condition  to  good  government. 
Every  government  must  see  to  it.  It  is  their  duty  to 
use  preventive  as  well  as  punitive  methods.  There 
are,  however,  ways  of  doing  these  things.  One  is  the 
British,  the  American  and  the  French  way.1  The 
other  is  what  was  heretofore  associated  with  the  name 
of  the  late  Czar.  The  third  is  the  German  way.  We 
hope  the  lessons  of  Czarism  will  not  be  lost  on  either 
party.  The  governments  have  as  much  to  learn  from 
it  as  the  peoples.  The  best  guarantee  against  the 
abnormal  growth  of  a  revolutionary  movement  is  to 
adopt  and  follow  the  British  methods  and  to  avoid 

1  By  this  we  do  not  mean  those  that  were  adopted  during  the 
war. 


184  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

scrupulously  and  without  fail  any  approach  to  the 
discredited  Russian  or  Prussian  methods. 

The  Indian  soil  and  the  Indian  atmosphere  are  not 
very  congenial  for  revolutionary  ideas  and  revolu- 
tionary methods.  The  people  are  too  docile,  gentle, 
law-abiding  and  spiritually  inclined  to  take  to  them 
readily.  They  are  by  nature  and  tradition  neither 
vindictive  nor  revengeful.  Their  general  spirit  is 
opposed  to  all  kinds  of  violence.  They  have  little 
faith  in  the  virtues  of  force.  Unless  they  are  provoked, 
and  that  too  terribly,  and  are  face  to  face  with  serious 
danger  they  do  not  like  the  use  of  force,  even  when 
recourse  to  it  may  be  legal  and  morally  defensible. 

One  of  the  causes  of  the  growth  of  the  revolutionary 
movement  in  India  has  been  the  insolence  and  the 
incivility  of  the  European  Community  towards  the 
Indian  Community.  The  charges  of  cowardice  so 
often  hurled  against  the  Bengali  have  played  no 
insignificant  part  in  the  genesis  of  the  Bengal  revolu- 
tionary. The  distinguished  authors  have  put  it 
rather  mildly: 

"If  there  are  Indians  who  really  desire  to  see  India 
leave  the  empire,  to  get  rid  of  English  officers  and 
English  commerce,  we  believe  that  among  their  springs 
of  action  will  be  found  the  bitterness  of  feeling  that 
has  been  nurtured  out  of  some  manifestation  that 
the  Englishman  does  not  think  the  Indian  an  equal. 
Very  small  seeds  casually  thrown  may  result  in  great 
harvests  of  political  calamity.  We  feel  that,  particu- 
larly at  the  present  stage  of  India's  progress,  it  is 
the  plain  duty  of  every  Englishman  and  woman,  offi- 
cial and  non-official,  in  India  to  avoid  the  offence 
and  the  blunder  of  discourtesy:  and  none  the  less  is  it 
incumbent  on  the  educated  Indian  to  cultivate  patience 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PARTY  1 85 

and  a  more  generous  view  of  what  may  very  likely  be 
no  more  than  heedlessness  or  difference  of  custom." 

We  admire  the  dignified  way  in  which  they  have 
addressed  their  advice  to  the  educated  Indian.  But 
we  hope  they  do  not  ignore  that  except  in  a  few 
scattered  instances  heretofore  the  chief  fault  has  lain 
with  the  ruling  class.  The  proceedings  of  the  Royal 
Commission  on  the  Public  Services  of  India  are  full  of 
that  racial  swagger  which  the  authors  of  this  report 
have  mildly  condemned  in  the  above  extract  and  it  is 
an  open  secret  that  that  spirit  was  one  of  the  dearly 
cherished  articles  of  faith  with  the  bureaucracy.  We 
hope  the  war  has  effected  a  great  change  in  their 
temper  and  both  parties  will  be  disposed  to  profit 
from  the  advice  given  to  them  in  the  report. 

As  to  the  duty  of  the  educated  leaders  in  the  matter 
of  suppressing  the  growth  of  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment in  future,  we  beg  to  point  out  that  all  depends  on 
how  much  faith  the  governing  classes  place  in  the 
professions  of  the  popular  leaders.  Open  public 
speeches  and  meetings  appealing  to  racial  or  religious 
animosities  have  not  played  any  important  part  in 
the  development  of  the  revolutionary  spirit.  It  is 
not  likely  that  the  educated  leaders  will  in  any  way 
consciously  and  voluntarily  digress  from  the  limits  of 
reasonable  criticism  of  Government  policy,  nor  have 
they  very  often  done  so  in  the  past.  What  has  so 
far  prevented  the  educated  leaders  from  exercising  an 
effective  check  on  the  growth  of  the  revolutionary 
movement  is  their  inability  to  associate  on  terms  of 
friendship  with  the  younger  generation.  This  has 
been  due  partly  to  a  false  idea  of  dignity  and  partly 
to  the  fear  that  any  association  with  hot-headed  young 


1 86  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

men  might  bring  discredit  on  them  or  might  land 
them  in  hot  water  if,  sometime  or  other,  any  one  of 
their  friends  might  do  anything  violent.  Public 
speeches  denouncing  the  revolutionary  propaganda 
and  the  revolutionary  activities  or  public  condemnation 
of  the  latter  in  the  press  are  good  in  their  own  way, 
but  they  are  not  quite  effective.  The  revolutionist 
may  ascribe  it  to  fear,  timidity,  or  hypocrisy.  What 
is  needed  is  that  educated  leaders  of  influence  should 
be  free  to  mix,  socially  and  otherwise,  with  the  younger 
generation  so  as  to  acquire  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
their  trend  of  thought  and  bent  of  mind.  It  is  in 
these  intimate  exchanges  of  views  that  they  can  most 
effectively  exercise  their  powers  of  argument  and 
persuasion  and  use  their  influence  effectively.  They 
will  not  succeed  always,  but  in  a  good  many  cases  they 
will.  This  cannot  be  done,  however,  unless  the 
Executives  and  the  Police  relax  their  attentions  toward 
them. 

The  bureaucrats'  want  of  confidence  in  any  Indian 
leader  reached  its  limit  in  the  attentions  which  the 
agents  of  the  secret  service  bestowed  on  such  men  as 
the  late  Mr.  Gokhale.  It  is  an  open  secret  that  the 
secret  service  records  have  assigned  a  particular 
number  to  every  public  leader  in  India.  Religious 
preachers  and  teachers  of  the  type  of  Lala  Hansraj 
and  Lala  Munshi  Ram  receive  as  much  attention  in 
the  records  as  the  writer  of  this  book  or  Mr.,  B.  G. 
Tilak  or  Mr.  Bepin  Chandra  Pal.  The  "  Servants  of 
India"  are  as  much  the  objects  of  solicitation  on  the 
part  of  the  secret  service  men  as  the  members  of  the 
Arya  Samaj.  Of  course,  agitators  are  agitators.  All 
the  great  progressive  souls  of  the  world  have  had  to 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PARTY  187 

agitate  at  one  time  or  another  in  their  lives.  Agitation 
is  the  soul  of  democracy.  There  can  be  no  progress 
in  a  democracy  without  agitation.  Sir  Denzil  Ibbetson 
could  pay  no  greater  compliment  to  the  Arya  Samaj 
than  by  his  remark  in  1907  that,  according  to  his 
information,  wherever  there  was  an  Arya  Samaj  it 
was  a  centre  of  unrest.  We  hope  the  Governments 
are  now  convinced  that  the  Arya  Samaj  has  never  been 
revolutionary.  It  is  one  of  the  most  conservative, 
restraining  forces  in  the  social  life  of  the  country. 
Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  its  propaganda  has  been 
and  will  continue  to  be  one  of  the  most  disturbing 
factors  in  the  placid  waters  of  Indian  life.  The 
bureaucracy  could  not  look  upon  it  with  kindness. 
Any  attempt  to  persist  in  this  kind  of  control  or  check 
or  persecution  will  be  fatal  to  the  success  of  the  appeal 
which  Mr.  Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford  have 
addressed  to  the  public  men  of  India  in  the  extract 
given  above. 

In  our  judgment  the  most  effective  way  to  check 
the  growth  of  the  revolutionary  movement  is  by 
freeing  the  mind  of  the  leaders  of  the  fear  of  being 
misunderstood  if  they  should  mix  freely  with  the 
younger  generation  and  yet  fail  to  prevent  some  of 
them  from  becoming  revolutionists.  A  revolutionary 
prospers  on  exclusiveness.  Secrecy  is  his  great  ally. 
Cut  off  a  young  man  from  open,  healthy  influences  and 
he  will  be  attracted  by  the  mystery  of  secrecy.  Thence- 
forth he  is  doomed.  After  that  he  may  be  weaned 
only  by  kindness  and  friendliness  and  not  by  threats 
or  persecution.  Most  of  the  youths  attracted  by 
revolutionary  propaganda  have  proved  to  be  quite 
ignorant  of  the  real  conditions  of  their  country.     No 


1 88  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

attempt  has  been  made  to  instruct  them  in  politics. 
They  have  been  fed  on  unsound  history  and  unsound 
politics.  Reactionary  Imperialism  has  harmed  them 
more  than  exaggerated  nationalism.  They  have  had 
few  opportunities  of  discussion  with  people  who  could 
look  upon  things  in  right  perspective.  They  could 
not  open  their  minds  to  their  European  teachers. 
In  the  few  cases  in  which  they  did  they  repented. 
Somehow  or  other,  the  free  confidential  talks  they  had 
with  their  professors  found  an  entry  in  the  police 
records.  It  brought  a  black  mark  against  their 
names,  to  stand  and  mar  their  careers  forever.  The 
Indian  teacher  and  professor  is  afraid  of  discussing 
politics  with  them.  So  they  go  on  unrestrained  until 
the  glamour  of  prospective  heroism,  by  a  deed  of 
violence,  fascinates  one  of  them  and  he  is  led  into 
paths  of  crimes  of  a  most  detestable  kind.  Unscrupu- 
lous advisors  lead  him  toward  falsehood,  hypocrisy, 
treachery,  treason  and  crime  by  dubious  methods. 
One  of  the  things  they  preach  is  that  morality  has 
nothing  to  do  with  politics.  They  insinuate  that  the 
violence  of  militarism  and  Imperialism  can  be  effec- 
tively met  and  checked  only  by  violence.  Poor 
misguided  souls!  They  enforce  their  advice  by  the 
diplomatic  history  of  Europe.  They  forget  that  once 
a  youth  is  led  into  the  ways  of  falsehood  and  unscrupu- 
lousness  he  may  as  easily  use  it  against  his  friends  as 
against  his  enemies.  If  he  has  no  scruples  about  killing 
an  enemy  he  may  have  none  about  killing  a  friend. 
If  he  has  no  scruples  about  betraying  the  one,  he  may 
have  none  about  betraying  the  other.  Once  a  man 
starts  toward  moral  degeneration,  even  for  desirable 
or  patriotic  ends,   there  is   no  knowing   whither  his 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PARTY  1 89 

course  might  take  him.  The  most  idealistic  young 
men  starting  with  the  highest  and  purest  conceptions 
of  patriotism  have  been  known  to  fall  into  the  most 
ignoble  methods  of  attacking  first  their  enemies  and 
then  their  friends.  When  they  reach  that  stage  of 
moral  corruption  they  can  trust  no  one,  can  believe  in 
the  honesty  of  no  one.  Their  one  idea  of  cleverness 
and  efficiency  is  to  conceal  their  motives  from  every- 
one, to  give  their  confidence  to  no  one,  to  suspect  and 
distrust  everyone  and  to  aspire  toward  the  success 
that  consists  in  imposing  upon  all. 

The  remedy  against  this  lies  in  encouraging  an  open 
and  frank  discussion  of  politics  on  the  part  of  the 
younger  generation,  with  such  indulgences  as  are  due  to 
their  youth  and  immaturity  of  judgment;  a  systematic 
teaching  of  political  history  in  schools  and  colleges; 
a  free  and  open  intercourse  with  their  teachers  on  the 
clearest  understanding  that  nothing  said  in  discussion 
or  in  confidence  will  ever  be  used  either  privately  or 
publicly  against  them,  and  an  equally  free  and  intimate 
intercourse  with  the  leaders  of  thought  and  of  public 
life  in  the  country.  These  latter  must  be  freed  from 
the  attentions  of  the  secret  service  if  it  is  intended  that 
they  should  effectually  cooperate  in  counteracting 
revolutionary  propaganda.  Besides,  the  younger  gen- 
eration must  be  brought  up  in  habits  of  manly  and 
open  encounter  with  their  adversaries,  in  a  spirit  of 
sport  and  fair  play.  Repression,  suppression,  and 
suspicion  do  not  provide  a  congenial  climate  for  the 
development  of  these  habits  and  they  should  be 
subordinated  as  much  as  possible  in  the  present  condi- 
tion of  chaotic  conflict  between  social  interests  and 
social  ideals. 


XVI 
EDUCATION. 

In  the  previous  chapters  we  have  embodied  and 
discussed  the  important  parts  of  the  Report  of  Mr. 
Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford.  In  this  chapter  we 
give  a  summary  of  what  they  say  about  education. 
The  statements  of  fact  made  by  the  two  distinguished 
statesmen  are  so  lucid  and  fair  that  we  make  no  apology 
for  copying  the  whole  article  embodying  the  same. 

"  There  is,  however,  one  aspect  of  the  general  problem 
of  political  advance  which  is  so  important  as  to  require 
notice  in  some  detail.  We  have  observed  already  that 
one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  India's  political  develop- 
ment lies  not  only  in  the  lack  of  education  among  its 
peoples  taken  as  a  whole,  but  also  in  the  uneven 
distribution  of  educational  advance.  The  educational 
policy  of  Government  has  incurred  much  criticism 
from  different  points  of  view.  Government  is  charged 
with  neglect,  because  after  sixty  years  of  educational 
effort  only  6  per  cent,  of  the  population  is  literate, 
while  under  4  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  is 
undergoing  instruction.  It  is  charged,  on  the  other 
hand,  with  having  given  to  those  classes  which  wel- 
comed instruction  a  system  which  is  divorced  from  their 
needs  in  being  purely  literary,  in  admitting  methods  of 
unintelligent  memorising  and  of  cramming,  and  in 
producing,  far  in  excess  of  the  actual  demands  of 
Indian  conditions,  a  body  of  educated  young  men 
whose  training  has  prepared  them  only  for  Govern- 
ment service  or  the  practice  of  law.     The  system  of 

190 


EDUCATION  191 

university  education  on  Western  lines  is  represented 
as  cutting  off  the  students  from  the  normal  life  of  the 
country,  and  the  want  of  connection  between  primary 
education  in  the  vernaculars  and  higher  education 
in  English  is  regarded  as  another  radical  defect." 

The  period  of  sixty  years  mentioned  is  evidently 
counted  from  1858,  the  year  in  which  the  rule  of  the 
East  India  Company  ceased  and  the  Crown  assumed 
direct  responsibility  for  the  Government  of  India. 
British  rule  in  India  however  began  in  1757  a.d.  and 
the  foundation  of  public  education  in  India  under 
the  British  might  well  be  considered  to  have  been  laid 
by  Warren  Hastings  in  1781,  in  which  year  the  Cal- 
cutta Madrassa  was  established.  For  a  period  of 
almost  50  years  the  discussion  whether  the  Indians 
should  be  instructed  in  English  or  not  went  on  until 
it  was  settled  in  1835  by  Lord  Macaulay's  famous 
minute  in  favour  of  English  and  the  European  system. 
In  1824  there  were  14  public  institutions  in  Bengal 
imparting  education  on  Western  lines. 

In  the  same  year,  i.e.,  in  1824,  Monstuart  Elphin- 
stone  formulated  a  similar  policy  for  the  Bombay 
presidency. 

To  the  remarks  made  in  the  above  quotation  about 
the  extent  and  kind  of  education  imparted  in  India 
till  now,  the  distinguished  authors  of  the  report  add: 

"From  the  economic  point  of  view  India  had  been 
handicapped  by  the  want  of  professional  and  technical 
instruction:  her  colleges  turn  out  numbers  of  young 
men  qualified  for  Government  clerkships  while  the  real 
interests  of  the  country  require,  for  example,  doctors 
and  engineers  in  excess  of  the  existing  supply.  The 
charge  that  Government  has  produced  a  large  intelli- 
gentsia   which    cannot    find    employment    has    much 


192  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

substance  in  it:  it  is  one  of  the  facts  that  lie  at  the 
root  of  recent  political  difficulties.  But  it  is  only  of 
late  years  and  as  part  of  the  remarkable  awakening 
of  national  self-consciousness,  that  the  complaint  has 
been  heard  that  the  system  has  failed  to  train  Indians 
for  practical  work  in  manufactures,  commerce,  and 
the  application  of  science  to  industrial  life." 

After  making  a  few  general  observations  on  the 
so  called  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  general  spread  of 
education  "the  chief  needs  at  present"  are  thus 
pointed  out: 

"  Primary  education,  as  we  have  seen,  is  already 
practically  in  the  hands  of  local  bodies,  but  secondary 
education  was  deliberately  left  at  the  outset  almost 
entirely  to  private  agencies.  The  universities,  despite 
their  connection  with  Government,  are  largely  non- 
official  bodies  with  extensive  powers.1  The  main 
defect  of  the  system  is  probably  the  want  of  co-ordina- 
tion between  primary  and  higher  education,  which  in 
turn  reacts  upon  the  efficiency  of  the  secondary  institu- 
tions and  to  a  great  extent  confines  university  colleges 
to  the  unsatisfactory  function  of  mere  finishing  schools. 
The  universities  have  suffered  from  having  been 
allowed  to  drift  into  the  position  of  institutions  that 
are  expected  not  so  much  to  educate  in  the  true  sense 
as  to  provide  the  student  with  the  means  of  entering 
an  official  or  a  professional  career.  Thus  a  high 
percentage  of  failures  seems  to  a  large  body  of  Indian 
opinion  not  so  much  a  proof  of  the  faultiness  of  the 
methods  of  teaching  as  an  example  of  an  almost  capri- 
cious refusal  of  the  means  of  obtaining  a  living  wage  to 
boys  who  have  worked  for  years  often  at  the  cost 
of  real  hardship  to  secure  an  independent  livelihood. 
The    educational    wastage    is    everywhere    excessive; 

1  We  do  not  accept  this  statement.  The  Government  controls 
the  policy  of  the  universities  to  such  an  extent  as  virtually  to  make 
them  official  institutions. 


EDUCATION  193 

and  analysis  shows  that  it  is  largely  due  to  under- 
payment and  want  of  proper  training  in  the  case  of 
teachers.  The  actual  recruits  for  normal  schools  are 
too  often  ill-prepared,  and  the  teaching  career,  which 
in  India  used  formerly  to  command  respect,  does  not 
now  offer  adequate  inducements  to  men  of  ability  and 
force  of  character.  The  first  need,  therefore,  is  the 
improvement  of  teaching.  Until  that  is  attained  it  is 
vain  to  expect  that  the  continuation  of  studies  from 
the  primary  stage  can  be  made  attractive.  But  while 
the  improvement  of  primary  and  middle  schools  is  the 
first  step  to  be  taken,  very  much  remains  to  be  done 
in  reorganising  the  secondary  teachers  and  ensuring 
for  the  schoolmaster  a  career  that  will  satisfy  an 
intelligent  man.  The  improvement  of  ordinary  second- 
ary education  is  obviously  a  necessary  condition  for 
the  development  of  technical  instruction  and  the 
reform  of  the  university  system.  It  is  clear  that 
there  is  much  scope  for  an  efficient  and  highly  trained 
inspectorate  in  stimulating  the  work  of  the  secondary 
schools  and  in  helping  the  inspectorate  of  the  primary 
schools  maintained  by  the  local  bodies.  We  believe 
that  the  best  minds  in  India,  while  they  feel  that  the 
educational  service  has  not  in  the  past  been  widely 
enough  opened  to  Indians  trained  at  British  univer- 
sities, value  the  maintenance  of  a  close  connection  with 
educationists  from  the  United  Kingdom. 

"This  survey  of  educational  problems  will  show  how 
much  room  there  is  for  advance  and  improvement, 
and  also  how  real  the  difficulties  are.  The  defects  of 
the  present  system  have  often  been  discussed  in  the 
legislative  councils,  but,  as  was  inevitable  so  long  as 
the  councils  had  no  responsibility,  without  due  appre- 
ciation of  financial  difficulties,  or  serious  consideration 
of  the  question  how  far  fresh  taxation  for  educational 
improvement  would  be  acceptable.  As  we  shall  show, 
it  is  part  of  the  political  advance  that  we  contemplate 
that  the  direction  of  Indian  education  should  be 
increasingly  transferred  to  Indian  hands.  Only  so, 
we  believe,  can  the  stimulus  be  forthcoming  which  will 


194  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF  INDIA 

enable  the  necessary  money  to  be  found.  The  weak 
points  are  recognised.  A  real  desire  for  improvement 
exists.  Educational  extension  and  reform  must  in- 
evitably play  an  important  part  in  the  political  progress 
of  the  country.  We  have  already  made  clear  our 
conviction  that  political  capacity  can  come  only 
through  the  exercise  of  political  responsibility;  and 
that  mere  education  without  opportunities  must 
result  in  serious  mischief.  But  there  is  another 
important  element.  Progress  must  depend  on  the 
growth  of  electorates  and  the  intelligent  exercise  of 
their  powers;  and  men  will  be  immensely  helped  to 
become  competent  electors  by  acquiring  such  education 
as  will  enable  them  to  judge  candidates  for  their  votes, 
and  of  the  business  done  in  the  councils.  No  one 
would  propose  to  prescribe  an  educational  qualification 
for  the  vote;  but  no  one  can  deny  the  practical  diffi- 
culties which  make  a  very  general  extension  of  the 
franchise  impossible,  until  literacy  is  far  more  widely 
spread  than  is  the  case  at  present  Progress  was 
temporarily  interrupted  by  uncertainty  as  to  the 
distribution  of  financial  resources  which  would  result 
from  the  constitutional  changes;  but  the  imminence 
of  these  has  given  a  new  importance  to  the  question 
and  its  consideration  has  been  resumed.  We  trust 
that  impetus  will  thus  be  given  to  a  widespread  move- 
ment which  will  be  taken  up  and  carried  forward  boldly 
by  the  reformed  councils." 

The  subject  has  been  so  fairly  dealt  with,  the  defects 
of  the  present  system  so  frankly  recognised  and  the 
need  of  wider  dissemination  of  education  so  forcibly 
explained  that  we  need  add  nothing. 

In  our  judgment  the  circumstances  and  conditions 
under  which  it  is  proposed  to  transfer  the  direction  of 
Indian  education  to  Indian  hands  are  extremely 
unfair.  It  is  admitted  that  under  the  present  economic 
conditions  of  the  Indian  people,  there  is  little  scope 


EDUCATION  195 

for  further  taxation.  If  so,  there  are  only  two  ways 
to  find  money  for  education,  (a)  by  economy  in  the 
other  departments  of  public  administration,  (b)  by 
loans. 

The  recommendation  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  the  Viceroy  for  an  increase  in  the  emolu- 
ments of  the  European  services  hardly  leaves  any 
room  for  (a).  We  have  discussed  the  matter  at  some 
length  in  another  chapter.  The  only  other  source 
left,  then,  is  by  incurring  debt.  Education  is  so 
important  and  so  fundamental  to  the  future  progress 
of  the  country  that  in  our  judgment  the  ministers 
should  feel  no  hesitation  in  having  recourse  to  it,  but 
the  problem  is  so  gigantic  that,  lacking  material 
reduction  in  the  cost  of  administration  in  other  depart- 
ments, it  will  be  extremely  difficult  to  meet  the  situation 
without  an  unreasonable  increase  in  the  public  debt. 
Anyway,  under  the  scheme  recommended,  the  Govern- 
ment cannot  divest  itself  of  the  fullest  responsibility 
in  the  matter.  The  scheme  gives  no  vital  power  to  the  I 
electorates  or  their  representatives.  The  authority  of 
the  Executive  in  the  matter  of  appropriations  remains 
unaffected  and  so  long  as  it  retains  the  final  say  in 
the  making  of  the  Budget,  the  Indian  ministers  cannot, 
handicapped  by  so  many  restrictions,  be  held  responsi- 
ble if  the  progress  is  slow. 

Our  views  on  the  problem  of  education  in  India 
have  been  expressed  in  a  separate  book  to  which 
interested  readers  are  referred.2  We  hold  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  Government  to  provide  free  and 
wholesome  education  to  every  child  at  public  cost, 
that  education  should  be  compulsory  up  to  the  age 
2  National  Education  in  India. 


196  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

of  18.  The  policy  of  the  English  Education  Act  of 
1918  ought  to  be  applied  to  India,  and  if  it  cannot  be 
done  from  current  funds,  loans  should  be  raised  for  the 
purpose.  It  is  a  matter  which  brooks  of  no  delay. 
The  whole  future  of  India  depends  upon  it.  Nay, 
the  future  of  humanity  as  a  whole  is  affected  by  it. 
The  world  cannot  be  safe  for  any  kind  of  democracy, 
nor  can  the  world  make  progress  towards  a  better 
order  without  the  active  cooperation  of  three  hundred 
and  fifteen  million  Indians  forming  one-fifth  of  the 
human  race.  Not  only  is  the  world  poorer  by  reason 
of  India's  inability  to  cooperate  in  the  work  of  pro- 
gress but  its  present  educational  backwardness  is  a 
serious  handicap  to  the  rest  of  humanity  going 
forward. 


xvn 

THE  PROBLEM 

We  have  so  far  discussed  the  Report  and  such  re- 
marks as  we  have  made  have  been  by  way  of  comment. 
In  this  chapter  we  propose  to  give  in  brief  outline  our 
own  view  of  the  problem. 

Let  us  first  be  clear  about  the  exact  nature  of  the 
Indian  problem.  Political  institutions  are,  after  all, 
only  a  reflection  of  the  national  mind  and  of  national 
conditions.  What  is  the  end?  The  end  is  freedom 
to  live  and  to  live  according  to  our  own  conception  of 
what  life  should  be,  to  pursue  our  own  ideals,  to 
develop  our  own  civilization  and  to  secure  that  unity 
of  purpose  which  would  distinguish  us  from  the  other 
nations  of  the  world,  insuring  for  us  a  position  of 
independence  and  honor,  of  security  from  within  and 
non-interference  from  without.  We  have  no  ambition 
to  conquer  and  rule  other  peoples;  we  have  no  desire 
to  exploit  foreign  markets;  not  even  to  impose  our 
"kultur"  and  our  "civilization"  on  others.  At  present 
I  we  are  counted  among  the  backward  peoples  of  the 
'  earth  mainly  because  we  are  a  subject  people,  governed 
by  a  foreign  power,  protected  by  foreign  bayonets 
and  schooled  by  foreign  teachers.  The  condition  of 
our  masses  is  intellectually  deplorable  and  economically 
miserable;  our  women  are  still  in  bondage  and  do  not 
enjoy  that  freedom  which  their  Western  sisters  have 

197 


I98  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  TNDIA 

won;  our  domestic  masters,  the  prince  and  priest,  are 
still  in  saddle;  caste  and  privilege  still  hold  some  sway, 
yet  it  is  not  true  that,  taken  all  in  all,  we  are  really  a 
backward  people.  Even  in  these  matters  we  find 
that  the  difference  between  us  and  the  "advanced" 
nations  of  the  world  is  one  of  degree  only.  Caste  and 
privilege  rule  in  the  United  States  as  much  as  in  India. 
There  is  nothing  in  our  history  which  can  be  put  on  the 
same  level  as  the  lynching  of  Mr.  Little,  the  deporta- 
tion of  Bisbee  miners,  the  lynching  of  the  Negroes,  and 
other  incidents  of  a  similar  nature  indicative  of  race 
I  hatred  and  deep  rooted  colour  prejudice.  No  nation 
in  the  world  can  claim  an  ideal  state  of  society ,  in  which 
everything  is  of  the  best.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
are  certain  matters  in  which  comparison  is  to  our 
advantage.  Even  with  the  advance  of  drunkenness 
under  British  rule  we  are  yet  a  sober  nation;  our 
standards  of  personal  and  domestic  hygiene  are  much 
higher  than  those  of  the  Western  people;  our  standards 
of  life  much  simpler  and  nobler;  our  social  ideals 
more  humane;  and  our  spiritual  aspirations  infinitely 
superior.  As  a  nation  we  do  not  believe  in  war  or 
militarism  or  evangelism.  We  do  not  force  our  views 
on  others;  we  have  greater  toleration  for  other  people's 
opinions  and  beliefs  than  has  any  other  nation  in  the 
world;  we  have  not  yet  acquired  that  craze  for  posses- 
sions and  for  sheer  luxurious  and  riotous  life  which 
marks  the  modern  Pharisee  of  the  West.  Our  people, 
according  to  their  conceptions,  means  and  oppor- 
tunities are  kindly,  hospitable,  gentle,  law-abiding, 
mutually  helpful,  full  of  respect  for  others,  and  peace 
loving.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  abnormal  extent  in  which 
these  qualities  exist  that  has  contributed  to  our  political 


THE  PROBLEM  1 99 

and  economic  exploitation  by  others.  In  India 
capitalism  and  landlordism  have  not  yet  developed  as 
fully  as  they  have  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
West.  The  West  is  in  revolt  against  capitalism  and 
landlordism.  We  do  not  claim  that  before  the  advent 
of  the  British  there  was  no  capitalism  or  landlordism 
in  India.  But  we  do  contend  that,  though  there  was 
a  certain  amount  of  rivalry  and  competition  between 
the  different  castes,  within  the  castes  there  was  much 
more  cooperation  and  fellow-feeling  than  there  has 
ever  been  in  the  West.  Our  native  governments  and 
their  underlings,  the  landlords,  did  exact  a  high  price 
from  the  village  communities  for  the  privilege  of 
cultivating  their  lands  but  within  the  village  there 
was  no  inter  se  competition  either  between  the  tillers 
of  the  soil  or  between  the  pursuers  of  crafts.  The 
gulf  between  the  rich  and  the  poor  was  not  so  marked 
as  it  is  to-day  in  the  West. 

Under  the  British  rule  and  since  its  introduction, 
however,  things  have  changed  considerably.  Without 
adopting  the  best  features  of  modern  life,  we  have  been 
forced  by  circumstances,  political  and  economic,  to 
give  up  the  best  of  our  own.  Village  communities 
have  been  destroyed;  joint  and  corporate  bargaining 
has  given  place  to  individual  transactions;  every  bit 
of  land  has  been  separately  measured,  marked  and 
taxed;  common  lands  have  been  divided;  the  price  of 
land  and  rent  has  risen  abnormally.  The  money- 
lender who,  before  the  advent  of  British  rule,  held 
an  extremely  subordinate  position  in  the  village 
community,  has  suddenly  come  to  occupy  the  first 
place.  He  owns  the  best  lands  and  the  best  houses 
and   holds    the  bodies   and   souls   of    the   agricultur- 


200  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE   OF   INDIA 

alists  in  mortgage.  The  villages  which  were  gen- 
erally homogeneous  in  population,  bound  to  each 
other  by  ties  of  race,  blood  and  religion,  have  become 
heterogeneous,  with  nondescript  people  of  all  races 
and  all  religions  who  have  acquired  land  by  pur- 
chase. Competition  has  taken  the  place  of  cooper- 
ation. A  country  where  social  cooperation  and 
social  solidarity  reigned  at  least  within  castes,  within 
villages  and  within  urban  areas  has  been  entirely 
disrupted  and  disintegrated  by  unlimited  and  uncon- 
trolled competition.  India  never  knew  any  poor 
laws;  she  never  needed  any;  nor  orphan  asylums, 
nor  old  age  pensions  and  widow  homes.  She  had  no 
use  for  organized  charity.  Rarely  did  any  man  die 
for  want  of  food  or  clothing,  except  in  famines.  Hos- 
pitality was  open  and  was  dispensed  under  a  sense  of 
duty  and  obligation  and  not  by  way  of  charity  or 
kindness.  The  survival  of  the  fittest  had  no  hold  on 
our  minds.  We  had  no  factories  or  workshops.  People 
worked  in  their  own  homes  or  shops  either  with  their 
own  money  or  with  money  borrowed  from  the  money- 
lender. The  artisans  were  the  masters  of  the  goods 
they  produced  and,  unless  otherwise  agreed  with  the 
money-lender,  sold  them  in  the  open  market.  The 
necessities  of  life,  being  cheap  and  easily  procurable 
the  artisans  cared  more  for  quality  than  quantity. 
Their  work  was  a  source  of  pleasure  and  pride  as  well 
as  of  profit  to  them.  Now  everything  has,  gone, 
pleasure,  pride,  as  well  as  profit.  Where  profit  has 
remained,  pleasure  and  pride  are  gone.  We  are  on 
the  high  road  to  a  " distinctly  industrial  civilization." 
In  fact,  the  principal  complaint  of  our  political  re- 
formers and  free  trade  economists  is  that  the  British 


THE  PROBLEM  201 

Government  has  not  let  us  proceed  on  that  road  at  a 
sufficiently  rapid  pace  and  that,  in  preventing  us, 
they  have  been  dominated  by  their  own  national 
interests  more  than  by  our  own  good.  We  saw  that 
other  nations  were  progressing  by  following  the  laws 
of  industrial  development,  and  quite  naturally  we  also 
wanted  to  prosper  by  the  same  method.  This  war 
has  opened  our  eyes  as  it  has  opened  those  of  the  rest 
of  the  world  and  we  have  begun  to  feel  that  the  goal 
that  we  sought  leads  to  perdition  and  not  salvation. 
This  makes  it  necessary  for  the  Indian  politicians  and 
economists  to  review  their  ideas  of  political  progress. 
What  are  we  aiming  at?  Do  we  want  to  rise,  in  order 
to  fall?  Do  we  want  to  copy  and  emulate  Europe 
even  in  its  mistakes  and  blunders?  Does  the  road  to 
heaven  lie  through  hell?  Must  we  make  a  wreck  of 
our  ship  and  then  try  salvage?  The  civilization  of 
Europe,  as  we  have  known  it,  is  dying.  It  may  take 
decades  or  perhaps  a  century  or  more  to  die.  But 
die  it  must.  This  War  has  prepared  a  death  bed  for 
it  from  which  it  will  never  rise.  Upon  its  ruins  is 
rising,  or  will  rise,  another  civilization  which  will 
reproduce  much  of  what  was  valuable  and  precious  in 
our  own  with  much  of  what  we  never  had.  The 
question  that  we  want  to  put  to  our  compatriots  is, 
shall  we  prepare  ourselves  for  the  coming  era,  or  shall 
we  bury  ourselves  in  the  debris  of  the  expiring  one. 
We  have  no  right  to  answer  it  for  others,  but  our 
answer  is  clear  and  unequivocal.  We  will  not  be  a 
party  to  any  scheme  which  shall  add  to  the  powers  of 
the  capitalist  and  the  landlord  and  will  introduce  and 
accentuate  the  evils  of  the  expiring  industrial  civiliza- 
tion into  our  beloved  country. 


202  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

We  are  not  unaware  that,  according  to  the  judgment 
of  some  thinkers,  amongst  them  Karl  Marx,  a  country 
must  pass  through  the  capitalistic  mill,  before  the 
proletariat  comes  to  its  own.  We  do  not  believe  in 
the  truth  of  this  theory,  but  even  if  it  be  true  we  will 
not  consciously  help  in  proving  it  to  be  true.  The 
existing  social  order  of  Europe  is  vicious  and  immoral.  1 
It  is  worm  eaten.  It  has  the  germs  of  plague,  disease,  ' 
death  and  destitution  in  it.  It  is  in  a  state  of  decom- 
position. It  is  based  on  injustice,  tyranny,  oppression 
and  class  rule.  Certain  phases  of  if  are  inherent  in 
our  own  system.  Certain  others  we  are  borrowing 
from  our  masters  in  order  to  make  a  complete  mess. 

I  Wisdom  and  foresight  require  that  we  be  forewarned. 

'What  we  want  and  what  we  need  is  not  the  power  to 
implant  in  full  force  and  in  full  vigour  the  expiring 
European  system,  but  power  to  keep  out  its  develop- 
ment on  vicious  lines,  with  opportunities  of  gradually 
and  slowly  undoing  the  evil  that  has  already  been 
done. 

The  Government  of  India  as  at  present  constituted  i 
is  a  Government  of  capitalists  and  landlords,  of  both  ) 
England  and  India.  Under  the  proposed  scheme  the 
power  of  the  former  will  be  reduced  and  that  of  the 
latter  increased.  The  Indo-British  Association  does 
not  like  it,  not  because  it  loves  the  masses  of  India 
for  which  it  hypocritically  and  insincerely  professes 
|  solicitude,  but  because  in  their  judgment  it  reduces 
the  profits  of  the  British  governing  classes.  We  doubt 
if  the  scheme  really  does  affect  even  that.  But  if  it 
does,  it  is  good  so  far. 

The  ugly  feature  of  the  scheme  is  not  its  potentiality 
in  transferring  the  power  into  the  hands  of  the  Brah- 


THE  PROBLEM  203 

mins  (the  power  of  the  Brahmin  as  such,  is  gone  for 
good),  but  in  the  possibility  of  its  giving  too  much 
power  to  the  "  profiteering "  class,  be  they  the  land- 
lords of  Bengal  and  Oudh,  or  the  millionaires  of  Bombay. 
1  The    scheme   protects    the    European    merchants;     it 
confers  special  privileges  on  the  small  European  Com- 
munity;    it   provides    special   representation   for    the 
landlords,  the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  the  Moham- 
medans and  the  Sikhs.     What  is  left  for  the  general 
j  tax-paying  public  is  precious  little.     The  authors  of 
t  the  scheme  say  that  to  withhold  complete  and  im- 
mediate Home  Rule  is  in  the  interest  of  the  general 
masses,  the  poor  inarticulate  ryot  and  the  workingman. 
{  We  wish  we  could  believe  in  it.     We  wish  it  were  true. 
Perhaps  they  mean  it,  but  our  past  experience  does 
not  justify  our  accepting  it  at  its  face  value. 

There  is,  however,  one  thing  we  can  do.  We  can 
ask  them  for  proofs  by  insisting  on  and  agitating  for 
the  immediate  legislative  relief  of  the  ryot  and  the 
middle  classes.  We  should  adopt  the  aims  of  the 
British  Labour  Party  as  our  own,  start  educating  our 
people  on  those  lines  and  formulate  measures  which 
will  secure  for  them  real  freedom  and  not  the  counterfeit 
coin  which  passes  for  it.  It  will  require  years  of 
education  and  agitation  but  it  has  to  be  done,  no 
matter  whether  we  are  ruled  by  the  British  or  by  our 
own  property  holders.  We  are  not  opposed  to  Home 
Rule.  Nay,  we  press  for  it.  In  our  judgment  the 
objections  urged  against  giving  it  at  once  are  flimsy 
•  and  intangible.  The  chief  obstacles  are  such  as  have 
.  been  created  or  perpetuated  by  the  British  themselves. 
The  caste  does  not  prevent  us  from  having  at  least 
as  much  home  rule  as  is  enjoyed  by  the  people  of 


204  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

Italy,  Hungary,  the  Balkan  States  and  some  of  the 
South  American  Republics.  But  if  we  cannot  have 
it  at  once  and  if  the  British  must  retain  the  power 
of  final  decision  in  their  hands,  we  must  insist  upon 
something  being  immediately  done  not  only  to  educate 
the  ryot  but  to  give  him  economic  relief.  So  long  as 
the  British  continue  to  refuse  to  do  that  we  must 
hold  them  responsible  for  all  the  misery  that  Indian 
humanity  is  suffering  from. 

We  want  political  power  in  order  to  raise  the  in- 
tellectual and  political  status  of  our  masses.  We  do 
not  want  to  bolster  up  classes.  Our  goal  is  real  liberty, 
equality  and  opportunity  for  all.  We  want  to  avoid,  j 
if  possible,  the  evils  of  the  class  struggle.  We  will 
pass  through  the  mill  if  we  must,  but  we  should  like  to 
try  to  avoid  it.  For  that  reason  we  want  freedom  to 
legislate  and  freedom  to  determine  our  fiscal  arrange- 
ments. That  is  our  main  purpose  in  our  demand 
for  Home  Rule. 


XVIII 
THE  INTERNATIONAL   ASPECT 

Thus  far  we  have  discussed  the  Indian  question 
from  the  internal  or  national  point  of  view.  But  it 
has  an  international  aspect  also.  It  is  said,  and  we 
hope  that  it  is  true,  that  the  world  is  entering  into  an 
era  of  new  internationalism  and  that  the  old  exclusive 
chauvinistic  nationalism  is  in  its  last  gasps.  This 
war  was  the  greatest  social  mix-up  known  to  history. 
It  has  brought  about  the  downfall  of  many  monarchs 
and  the  destruction  of  four  empires.  The  armies  of 
the  belligerents  on  both  sides  contained  the  greatest 
assortment  of  races  and  nations,  of  religions  and 
languages  that  were  ever  brought  together  for  mutual 
destruction.  Primarily  a  fight  between  the  European 
Christians,  it  drew  into  its  arena  Hindus,  Mohamme- 
dans, Buddhists,  Shintos,  Jews  and  Negroes  of  Africa 
and  America. 

The  war  has  produced  a  revolution  in  Russia,  the 
like  of  which  has  never  been  known.  It  is  now  said 
openly  that  the  Russian  Revolution  had  as  much 
influence  on  the  final  debacle  of  the  Central  Powers  as 
the  strength  of  the  Allies  and  the  resources  of  America. 
The  revolution  has  spread  to  Germany  and  Austria 
and  threatens  to  engulf  the  whole  of  Europe.  It  has 
given  birth  to  a  new  order  of  society,  aglow  with  the 
spirit  of  a  new  and  elevated  kind  of  internationalism. 

205 


206  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA       . 

This  internationalism  must  have  for  its  foundation 
justice  and  self-determination  for  all  peoples,  regardless 
of  race  or  religion,  creed  or  color.  In  the  new  under- 
standing between  nations  cooperation  must  be  sub- 
stituted for  competition  and  mutual  trust  and  helpful- 
ness for  distrust  and  exploitation  of  the  weaker  by  the 
stronger.  The  only  alternatives  are  reaction,  with  the 
certainty  of  even  greater  war  in  the  near  future,  and 
Bolshevism. 

Now,  nobody  knows  what  Bolshevism  represents. 
The  Socialists  themselves  are  divided  over  it.  The 
advanced  wing  is  enthusiastic,  the  moderates  are 
denouncing  it.  The  Liberals  and  Radicals  are  freely 
recognizing  that  it  has  brought  into  the  affairs  of  men 
a  new  spirit  which  is  going  to  stay  and  substantially 
influence  the  future  of  the  world.  The  stand-patters 
denounce  it  in  the  strongest  possible  terms.  They 
calumniate  it  to  their  heart's  content  and  move  heaven 
and  earth  to  exterminate  it.  But  we  feel  that  only 
radical  changes  in  the  existing  order  will  stem  its  tide. 
The  Socialists  and  Radicals  want  to  make  the  most 
of  it,  while  the  Imperialist  Liberals  and  Conservatives 
want  to  give  as  little  as  is  compatible  with  the  safety 
of  the  existing  order  in  which  they  are  supreme.  The 
struggle  will  take  some  time,  but  that  it  will  end  in 
favor  of  the  new  spirit  no  one  doubts. 

The  only  way  to  meet  Bolshevism  is  to  concede 
rights  to  the  different  peoples  of  the  earth ,  now 
being  bled  and  exploited.  Otherwise  the  discontented 
and  exploited  countries  of  the  world  will  be  the  best 
breeding  centres  for  it.  India  must  come  into  her 
own  soon,  else  not  even  the  Himalayas  can  effectually 
bar  the  entry  of  Bolshevism  into  India.     A  contented, 


THE   INTERNATIONAL  ASPECT  207 

self-governing  India  may  be  proof  against  it;  a  discon- 
tented, dissatisfied,  oppressed  India  perhaps  the  most 
fertile  field.  We  hope  the  British  statesmen  are  alive 
to  the  situation. 

But  that  is  not  the  only  way  to  look  at  the  inter- 
national importance  of  India.  By  its  geographical 
situation  it  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  Near 
East  and  the  Far  East  and  the  clearing  house  for  the 
trade  of  the  world.  Racially,  it  holds  the  balance 
between  the  European  Aryan  and  the  yellow  races. 
In  any  military  conflict  between  the  white  and  the 
yellow  races,  the  people  of  India  will  be  a  decisive 
factor.  In  a  conflict  of  peace  they  will  be  a  harmonising 
element.  Racially  they  are  the  kin  of  the  European. 
By  religion  and  culture  they  are  nearer  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese. 

With  70  million  Moslems  India  is  the  most  important 
centre  of  Mohammedan  sentiment.  With  Christians 
as  their  present  rulers,  the  Hindus  and  Mohammedans 
of  India  are  coming  to  realise  that  their  best  interests 
require  a  closing  up  of  their  ranks.  There  is  no  doubt 
that,  come  what  may,  their  relations  in  future  will  be 
much  more  cordial,  friendly  and  mutually  sympathetic 
than  they  have  been  in  the  past.  The  Hindus  will 
stand  by  their  Mohammedan  countrymen  in  all  their 
efforts  to  revive  the  glory  of  Islam,  and  to  regain 
political  independence  for  it.  There  is  no  fear  of  a 
Pan-Islamic  movement  if  the  new  spirit  of  interna- 
tionalism prevails.  If,  however,  it  does  not,  the 
Pan-Islamic  movement  might  find  a  sympathetic 
soul  in  India.  Islam  is  not  dead.  It  cannot  and  will 
not  die.  The  only^way  to  make  it  a  force  for  harmony 
and   peace   is   to   recognise   its   potentialities   and   to 


208  THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE  OF  INDIA 

respect  its  susceptibilities.  The  political  independence 
of  Islamic  countries  is  the  basic  foundation  for  such 
a  state.  We  hope  that  the  statesmen  of  the  world 
will  give  their  most  earnest  thought  to  the  question 
and  sincerely  put  into  practice  the  principles  they 
have  been  enunciating  during  the  war.  The  case  of 
India  will  be  an  acid  test. 

A  happy  India  will  make  a  valuable  contribution  to 
the  evolution  of  a  better  and  more  improved  humanity. 
An  unhappy  India  will  clog  the  wheels  of  progress. 
It  will  not  be  easy  for  the  masters  of  India  to  rule  it 
on  old  lines.  If  not  reconciled  it  might  prove  the 
pivot  of  the  next  war.  A  happy  India  will  be  one  of 
the  brightest  spots  in  the  British  Commonwealth. 
A  discontented  India  will  be  a  cause  of  standing  shame 
and  a  source  of  never  ending  trouble. 

With  a  republican  China  in  the  northeast,  a  con- 
stitutional Persia  in  the  northwest  and  a  Bolshevist 
Russia  in  the  not  remote  north,  it  will  be  extremely 
foolish  to  attempt  to  rule  India  despotically.  Not 
even  the  gods  can  do  it.  It  is  not  possible  even  if  the 
legislature  devotes  all  its  sittings  to  the  drafting  and 
passing  of  one  hundred  coercion  acts.  The  peace  of 
the  world,  international  harmony  and  good-will,  the 
good  name  of  the  British  Commonwealth,  the  safety 
of  the  Empire  as  such,  demand  the  peaceful  introduc- 
tion and  development  of  democracy  in  India. 


APPENDIX  A 

A   SYNOPSIS   OF    THE    INDIAN   INDUSTRIAL 
COMMISSIONERS'   REPORT 

A  bureaucracy  has  the  fatal  tendency  of  perpetuating 
itself  and  of  making  itself  indispensable.  As  a  result, 
we  find  that  the  prospects  and  powers  of  the  bu- 
reaucracy become  more  important  than  even  the 
purposes  for  which  it  exists.  It  is  a  commonplace  of 
politics  that  a  state  exists  for  the  people  comprising 
it,  and  that  the  servants  of  the  state  are  the  servants 
of  the  people.  They  are  the  tools  which  the  body 
politic  uses  for  its  corporate  life.  Even  in  self-governed 
countries  the  tendency  of  glorifying  the  state  and  the 
servants  of  the  state  at  the  cost  of  the  people  is  not 
uncommon,  though  the  fact  is  not,  or  rarely,  if  at 
all,  admitted  in  so  many  words.  In  dependencies 
and  countries  governed  by  a  foreign  bureaucracy, 
however,  this  fact  is  undisguisedly  kept  before  the 
people  and  they  are  openly  and  frankly  told  that  the 
powers  and  prospects  of  the  servants  of  the  govern- 
ment are  of  greater  consequence  and  importance  than 
the  wishes  and  welfare  of  the  people.  This  is  amply 
illustrated  by  the  extravagant  scale  on  which  the 
government  of  India  pays  its  European  servants  and 
goes  on  adding  to  their  privileges  under  all  sorts  of 
pretences  and  excuses.  People  may  live  or  they 
may  die  for  want  of  food,  for  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
ordinary  laws  of  hygiene,  for  lack  of  employment, 
but  the  bureaucrats  must  enjoy  their  princely  salaries, 
their  hill  allowances,  their  furlough,  and  travelling 
and  leave  perquisites,  promotions  and  pensions. 
If  the  cost  of  living  increases,  they  must  get  a  raise 
in  their  salaries,  no  matter  how  the  increased  cost  of 

209 


2IO  APPENDIX 

living  affects  the  general  body  of  the  people.  Besides, 
they  must  have  their  pensions,  as  their  children  are 
infinitely  more  important  than  those  of  the  tax-payer. 

We  have  already  reproduced  and  discussed  the 
recommendations  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India 
and  the  Viceroy,  about  the  European  members  of  the 
Indian  services.  The  Viceroy  has  only  recently 
emphasized  the  importance  of  a  substantial  increase 
in  their  salaries,  although  there  is  a  deficit  of  20  million 
dollars  in  the  budget  estimates  for  the  next  year. 
That  is  an  old  story,  however.  What  we  are  imme- 
diately concerned  with  are  the  recommendations  of 
the  Indian  Industrial  Commission,  in  favor  of  creating 
a  new  branch  of  public  service  divided  into  the  in- 
evitable Imperial  and  Provincial  branches,  for  further- 
ing the  industrial  development  of  the  country.  Our 
meaning  will  be  clear  as  we  proceed. 

The  Indian  Industrial  Commission  was  appointed 
by  the  Government  of  India  "to  examine  and  report 
upon  the  possibilities  of  further  industrial  develop- 
ment in  India  and  to  submit  its  recommendations 
with  special  references  to  the  following  questions:  — 

(a)  whether  new  openings  for  the  profitable 
employment  of  Indian  capital  in  commerce 
can  be  indicated. 

(b)  whether,  and  if  so,  in  what  manner,  govern- 
ment can  usefully  give  direct  encouragement 
to  industrial  development, 

1.  by  rendering  technical  advice  more 
freely  available; 

2.  by  the  demonstration  of  the  possibility, 
on  a  commercial  scale,  of  particular 
industries; 

3.  by  affording,  directly,  or  indirectly, 
financial  assistance  to  industrial  enter- 
prise; or 

4.  by  any  other  means  which  are  not  incom- 
patible with  the  existing  fiscal  policy  of 
the  government  of  India. 


APPENDIX  211 

The  tariff  question  was  excluded  from  the  scope  of 
the  Commission's  inquiries,  though  it  was  expressed 
that  the  "building  up  of  industries  where  the  capital, 
control  and  management  should  be  in  the  hands  of 
the  Indians"  was  the  " special  object''  which  the 
government  had  in  view.  The  Government  spokesman 
in  the  meeting  of  the  Legislative  Council  at  which  the 
appointment  of  the  Commission  was  announced 
further  emphasized  "that  it  was  of  immense  import- 
ance, alike  to  India  herself  and  to  the  Empire  as  a 
whole,  that  Indians  should  take  a  larger  share  in  the 
industrial  development  of  their  country."  He  "  dep- 
recated the  taking  of  any  steps,  if  it  might  merely 
mean  that  the  manufacturer  who  now  competes  with 
you  from  a  distance  would  transfer  his  activities  to 
India  and  compete  with  you  within  your  boundaries." 

The  Commission  has  now  submitted  its  report 
which  has  been  published  as  a  Parliamentary  blue 
book  in  a  bulky  volume  of  about  500  pages  including 
a  separate  lengthy  note  by  one  of  the  leading  Indian 
members  of  the  Commission.  The  note  is,  in  our 
judgment,  very  valuable,  as  it  gives  the  Indian  point 
of  view  of  the  industrial  problem  in  such  a  lucid  and 
exhaustive  way  as  to  leave  no  room  for  doubt  as  to 
what  articulate  India  thinks  in  the  matter.  The 
note  does  not  express  only  the  personal  opinion  of 
the  author  but  the  considered  views  of  the  Indian 
Nationalist  Party. 

Both  the  report  and  the  note  have  been  the  source 
of  much  personal  gratification  to  us  as  they  corroborate 
and  confirm  to  an  extraordinary  extent  what  the  author 
said  in  his  book  "England's  Debt  to  India,"  though 
the  report  is  by  no  means  free  from  fallacies  and  one- 
sided statements  of  fact  and  opinions. 

II 

In  the  words  of  the  summary  prefixed  to  the  report: 

"The  first  chapters  of  the  report  deal  with  India 

as  an   industrial  country,   her  present  position,   and 


212  APPENDIX 

her  potentialities.  They  show  how  little  the  march 
of  modern  industry  has  affected  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Indian  population,  which  remains  engrossed  in  agri- 
culture, winning  a  bare  subsistence  from  the  soil  by 
antiquated  methods  of  cultivation.  Such  changes 
as  have  been  wrought  in  rural  areas  are  the  effects  of 
economic  rather  than  of  industrial  evolution.  In 
certain  centers  the  progress  of  Western  industrial 
methods  is  discernible;  and  a  number  of  these  are 
described  in  order  to  present  a  picture  of  the  con- 
ditions under  which  industries  are  carried  on,  attention 
being  drawn  to  the  shortage  and  to  the  general  in- 
efficiency of  Indian  labor  and  to  the  lack  of  an  in- 
digenous supervising  agency.  Proposals  are  made 
for  the  better  exploitation  of  the  forests  and  fisheries. 
In  discussing  the  industrial  deficiencies  of  India,  the 
report  shows  how  unequal  the  industrial  development 
of  our  industries  has  been.  Money  has  been  invested 
in  commerce  rather  than  industries,  and  only  those 
industries  have  been  taken  up  which  appeared  to  offer' 
safe  and  easy  profits.  Previous  to  the  war,  too  ready 
reliance  was  placed  on  imports  from  overseas,  and  this 
habit  was  fostered  by  the  Government  practice  of 
purchasing  stores  in  England.  India  produces  nearly 
all  the  raw  materials  necessary  for  the  requirements  of 
a  modern  community;  but  is  unable  to  manufacture 
many  of  the  articles  and  materials  necessary  alike 
in  times  of  peace  and  war.  For  instance,  her  great 
textile  industries  are  dependent  upon  supplies  of 
imported  machinery  and  would  have  to  shut  down  if 
command  of  the  seas  were  lost.  It  is  vital,  therefore, 
for  the  Government  to'  ensure  the  establishment  of 
those  industries  in  India  whose  absence  exposes  us  to 
grave  danger  in  event  of  war.  The  report  advocates 
the  introduction  of  modern  methods  of  agriculture  and 
in  particular  of  labor-saving  devices.  Greater  effi- 
ciency in  cultivation,  and  in  the  preparation  of  produce 
for  the  market  would  follow;  labor  now  wastefully 
employed  would  be  set  free  for  industries  and  the 
establishment  of  shops  foi  the  manufacture  and  repair 


APPENDIX  213, 

of  machinery  would  lead  to  the  growth  of  a  huge 
engineering  industry." 

The  summarized  statements  will  be  made  more 
clear  by  the  following  extracts  from  Chapter  I  on  rural 
India. 

"  Famine  connotes  not  so  much  a  scarcity  or  entire 
absence  of  food  as  high  prices  and  a  lack  of  employ- 
ment in  the  affected  areas.  .  .  .  The  capital  in  the 
hands  of  the  country  traders  has  proved  insufficient 
to  finance  the  ordinary  movements  of  crops  and  the 
seasonal  calls  for  accommodations  from  the  main 
financial  centers  are  constantly  increasing.  This  lack 
of  available  capital  is  one  cause  of  the  high  rates  that 
the  ryot  has  to  pay  for  the  ready  money  which  he  needs 
to  buy  seed  and  to  meet  the  expenses  of  cultivation. 
On  the  other  hand,  money  is  largely  invested  in  the 
purchase  of  landed  property,  the  price  of  which  has 
risen  to  very  high  figures  in  many  parts  of  the  country. 
.  .  .  But  the  no  less  urgent  necessity  of  relieving  the 
ryot  from  the  enormous  load  of  debt  with  which  he 
has  been  burdened  by  the  dearness  of  agricultural 
capital,  the  necessity  of  meeting  periodic  demands  for 
rent  and  his  social  habits,  has  hitherto  been  met  only 
to  a  very  small  extent  by  co-operative  organization. 
"The  farmer,  owing  partly  to  poverty  and  partly 
to  the  extreme  sub-division  of  the  land,  is  very  often 
a  producer  on  so  small  a  scale  that  it  is  practically 
impossible  for  him  to  take  his  crops  to  the  larger 
markets  where  he  can  sell  at  current  rates  to  the 
agents  of  the  bigger  firms.  ...  A  better  market 
system,  co-operative  selling,  and  education  are  the 
promising  remedies." 

Coming  to  the  industrial  centers  of  the  country 
apart  from  the  rural  areas,  the  report  says: 

"A  characteristic  feature  of  organised  industry 
and  commerce  in  all  the  chief  Indian  centers  is  the 
presence  of  large  agency  firms  which,  except  in  the 
case  of  Bombay,  are  mainly  European.  In  addition 
to  participating  in  the  export  and  import  trade,  they 
finance  and  manage  industrial  ventures  all  over  the 


214  APPENDIX 

country,  and  often  have  several  branches  in  the  large 
towns.  The  importance  of  these  agency  houses  may 
be  gauged  by  the  fact  that  they  are  in  control  of  the 
majority  of  the  cotton,  jute  and  other  mills  as  well  as 
of  the  tea  gardens  and  the  coal  mines." 

The  general  remarks  about  the  industrial  deficiency 
of  the  country  will  be  better  understood  from  the 
following  extracts: 

"We  have  already  referred  to  the  dependence  of 
India  on  outside  sources  of  sulphur  and  the  necessity 
for  insisting  on  the  local  smelting  of  her  sulphide  ores. 
In  the  absence  of  any  means  for  producing  from  purely 
Indian  sources  sulphuric,  nitric,  and  hydrochloric 
acids,  and  alkalis,  our  manufactures,  actual  or  pros- 
pective, of  paper,  drugs,  matches,  oils,  explosives, 
disinfectants,  dyes  and  textiles  are  dependent  upon 
imports  which  under  war  conditions,  might  be  cut 
off.  Sources  of  raw  materials  for  heavy  chemicals  are 
deficient.  The  output  of  saltpeter  could  be  raised  to 
40,000  tons  per  annum  and  supplementary  supplies 
of  nitrates  could  be  produced,  if  necessary,  from  atmos- 
pheric nitrogen;  but  for  this  again,  cheap  electric 
power  is  needed.  Salt  occurs  in  abundance  and  the 
establishment  of  caustic  soda  manufacture,  preferably 
by  an  electric  process,  that  would  also  yield  chlorine, 
is  a  necessary  part  of  our  chemical  programme.  There 
are  available  in  the  country,  in  fair  quantity,  many 
other  raw  materials  necessary  for  heavy  chemical 
manufacture,  in  addition  to  those  referred  to  under 
other  heads;  among  them  may  be  mentioned  alum, 
salts,  barytes,  borax,  gypsum,  limestone,  magnesia, 
phosphates  of  lime  and  ochres.  The  installation  of 
plants  for  the  recovery  of  by-products  in  coking  has 
recently  been  undertaken,  but  for  the  recovery  of 
tar  and  ammonia  only.  The  recovery  of  benzol  and 
related  products  has  so  far  not  been  attempted  nor  has 
anything  been  done  to  utilise  the  tar  by  re-distillation 
or  other  chemical  treatment. 

"Although  India  exported  raw  rubber  valued  in  1017- 
1918  at  162  lakhs,  rubber  manufacture  has  not  been 


APPENDIX  215 

started  in  the  country  and  goods  to  the  value  of  116 
lakhs  were  imported  in  1917-1918.  This  industry  is 
one  of  those  that  are  essential  in  the  national  interest 
and  should  be  inaugurated,  if  necessary,  by  special 
measures. 

"Though  textile  industries  exist  on  a  large  scale, 
the  range  of  goods  produced  is  still  narrow,  and  we  are 
dependent  upon  foreign  sources  for  nearly  all  of  our 
miscellaneous  textile  requirements.  In  addition  to 
these,  the  ordinary  demands  of  Indian  consumers 
necessitate  the  import  of  some  Rs.  66  crores  worth 
of  cotton  piece-goods,  and  interference  with  this 
source  of  supply  has  caused  serious  hardship.  Flax 
is  not  yet  grown  in  appreciable  quantities  and  the 
indigenous  species  of  so-called  hemp,  though  abund- 
antly grown,  are  not  at  present  used  in  any  organized 
Indian  industry. 

Our  ability  to  produce  and  to  preserve  many  of 
our  foodstuffs  in  transportable  forms  or  to  provide 
receptacles  for  mineral  or  vegetable  oils  depends  upon 
the  supply  of  tin  plates  which  India  at  present  imports 
in  the  absence  of  local  manufactures. 

"Our  few  paper  factories  before  the  war  stood  on  an 
uncertain  basis  and  we  are  still  dependent  upon  foreign 
manufacture  for  most  of  the  higher  qualities." 

India  produces  enormous  quantities  of  leather  on 
a  relatively  small  scale  by  modern  processes;  and  the 
village  tanner  supplies  the  local  needs  only,  and  with 
a  very  inferior  material.  To  obtain  the  quantities 
and  standards  of  finished  leather  which  the  country 
requires,  it  will  be  necessary  to  stimulate  industries 
by  the  institution  of  technical  training  and  by  the 
experimental  work  on  a  considerable  scale. 

"Large  quantities  of  vegetable  products  are  exported 
for  the  manufacture  of  drugs,  dyes  and  essential  oils, 
which  in  many  cases  are  re-imported  into  India. 

"The  blanks  in  our  industrial  catalog  are  of  a  kind 
most  surprising  to  one  familiar  only  with  the  European 
conditions.  We  have  already  alluded  generally  to 
the  basic  deficiencies  in  our  iron  and  steel  industries 


2l6  APPENDIX 

and  have  explained  how,  as  a  result,  the  many  engineer- 
ing shops  in  India  are  mainly  devoted  to  the  repair 
or  to  the  manufacture  of,  hitherto  mainly  from  im- 
ported materials,  comparatively  simple  structures, 
such  as  roofs,  bridges,  wagons  and  tanks.  India  can 
build  a  small  marine  engine  and  turn  out  a  locomotive 
provided  certain  essential  parts  are  obtained  from 
abroad  but  she  has  not  a  machine  to  make  nails  or 
screws,  nor  can  she  manufacture  some  of  the  essential 
parts  of  electrical  machinery.1 

"  Electrical  plant  and  equipment  are  still,  therefore, 
imported,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  incandescent  lamps 
are  used  by  the  millions  and  electric  fans  by  the  tens 
of  thousands.  India  relies  on  foreign  supplies  of 
steel  springs  and  iron  chains  and  for  wire  ropes,  a 
vital  necessity  of  her  mining  industry.  We  have 
already  pointed  out  the  absence  of  any  manufacture 
of  textile  mill  accessories.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  the  equipment  of  nearly  all  industrial  concerns. 
The  list  of  deficiencies  includes  all  kinds  of  machine 
tools,  steam  engines,  boilers  and  gas  and  oil  engines, 
hydraulic  presses  and  heavy  cranes.  Simple  lathes, 
small  sugar  mills,  small  pumps,  and  a  variety  of  odds 
and  ends  are  made  in  some  shops,  but  the  basis  of 
their  manufacture  and  the  limited  scale  of  production 
do  not  enable  them  to  compete  with  imported  goods 
of  similar  character  to  the  extent  of  excluding  the 
latter.  Agriculturists'  and  planters'  tools  such  as 
ploughs,  mamooties,  spades,  shovels  and  pickaxes  are 
mainly  imported  as  well  as  the  hand  tools  of  improved 
character  used  in  most  cottage  industries,  including 
wood-working  tools,  healds  and  reeds,  shuttles  and 
pickers.  Bicycles,  motor  cycles  and  motor  cars  cannot 
at  present  be  made  in  India  though  the  imports  under 
these  heads  were  valued  at  Rs.  187  lakhs  in  1913- 
1914.  The  manufacture  of  common  glass  is  carried 
on  in  various  localities,  and  some  works  have  turned 
out  ordinary  domestic  utensils  and  bottles  of  fair 
quality,  but  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  produce 
1  Italics  are  ours. 


APPENDIX  217 

plate  or  sheet  glass  or  indeed  any  of  the  harder  kinds 
of  commercial  glass,  while  optical  glass  manufacture 
has  never  even  been  mooted.  The  extent  of  our  de- 
pendence on  imported  glass  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  in  1013-1914  this  was  valued  at  Rs.  164  lakhs. 
Porcelain  insulators,  good  enough  for  low  tension 
currents,  are  manufactured,  but  India  does  not  pro- 
duce the  higher  qualities  of  either  porcelain  or 
china.  .  .  . 

"The  list  of  industries  which,  though  their  products 
are  essential  alike  in  peace  and  war,  are  lacking  in  this 
country,  is  lengthy  and  almost  ominous.2  Until  they  are 
brought  into  existence  on  an  adequate  scale,  Indian 
capitalists  will,  in  times  of  peace,  be  deprived  of  a 
number  of  profitable  enterprises;  whilst  in  the  event 
of  war  which  renders  the  sea  transport  impossible, 
India's  all-important  existing  industries  will  be  exposed 
to  the  risk  of  stoppage,  her  consumers  to  great  hard- 
ship, and  her  armed  forces  to  the  gravest  danger." 

In  discussing  the  part  played  by  Indians  of  all 
classes  in  the  industrial  development  of  the  Country 
the  Commission  observes: 

"It  is  obvious  that  the  great  obstacles  are  the  lack 
of  even  vernacular  education  and  the  low  standard  of 
comfort.  The  higher  grade  of  worker,  the  mechani- 
cal artisan,  in  the  absence  of  adequate  education  has 
been  prevented  from  attaining  a  greater  degree  of 
skill.  He  finds  himself  where  he  is,  less  by  deliberate 
choice  than  by  the  accident  of  his  obtaining  work  at 
some  railway  or  other  engineering  shop,  or  by  the 
possession  of  a  somewhat  more  enterprising  spirit 
than  his  fellows.  There  is  at  present  only  very  in- 
adequate provision  for  any  form  of  technical  training 
to  supplement  the  experience  that  he  can  gain  by  actual 
work  in  an  engineering  shop,  while  the  generally 
admitted  need  for  a  more  trustworthy  and  skillful 
type  of  man  is  at  present  met  by  importing  charge- 
men  and  foremen  from  abroad." 

2  Italics  are  ours. 


21 8  APPENDIX 

In  short,  the  industrial  deficiencies  of  India  are 
directly  due  to 

(a)  lack  of  education,  general,  scientific,  and 
technical. 

(b)  lack  of  encouragement  by  the  Government 
which  has  so  far  deliberately  purchased  most 
kinds  of  stores  needed  for  government  re- 
quirements from  England. 

The  agricultural  deficiencies  are  due  to  the  same 
causes  plus  the  poverty  of  the  ryot  and  his  inability 
to  secure  the  capital  necessary  for  improvements  on 
reasonable  terms  of  interest.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this  we 
find  the  Commission  laying  unwarranted  emphasis 
upon  the  creation  of  new  posts  divided  into  Imperial 
and  Provincial  branches  for  Industrial,  Agricultural, 
and  scientific  experts.  One  should  have  thought 
that  the  first  recommendation  should  be  the  imme- 
diate inauguration  of  general  education  throughout  the 
country  with  adequate  provision  for  technical,  scientific, 
agricultural  and  commercial  instruction. 

The  industrial  development  of  the  country  needs 
these  things:  (i)  general  education,  (2)  cheap  capital 
(3)  skilled  labor,  (4)  protection  against  improper 
foreign  competition.  Expert  advice  and  research  are 
needed  very  much,  but  no  amount  of  research  or  expert 
advice  will  advance  the  cause  of  industries  unless  the 
level  of  general  intelligence  has  been  raised  and  some 
provision  made  for  cheap  capital  and  skilled  labor. 
Says  the  Honorable  Malaviya  in  his  separate  note: 

"If  the  industries  of  India  are  to  develop,  and 
Indians  to  have  a  fair  chance  in  the  competition  to 
which  they  are  exposed,  it  is  essential  that  a  system 
of  education  at  least  as  good  as  that  of  Japan  should 
be  introduced  in  India.  I  am  at  one  with  my  col- 
leagues in  urging  the  fundamental  necessity  of  pro- 
viding primary  education  for  the  artisan  and  laboring 
population.  No  system  of  industrial  and  technical 
education  can  be  reared  except  on  that  basis.  But 
the  artisan  and  laboring  population  do  not  stand  apart 


APPENDIX  210 

from  the  rest  of  the  community;  and  therefore  if 
this  sine  qua  non  of  industrial  efficiency  and  economic 
progress  is  to  be  established  it  is  necessary  that  pri- 
mary education  should  be  made  universal.  I  agree 
also  in  urging  that  drawing  and  manual  training  should 
be  introduced  into  primary  schools  as  soon  as  possible. 
In  my  opinion,  until  primary  education  is  made  uni- 
versal, if  not  compulsory,  and  until  drawing  is  made 
a  compulsory  subject  in  all  primary  schools,  the 
foundation  of  a  satisfactory  system  of  industrial  and 
technical  education  will  be  wanting.  Of  course 
this  will  require  time.  But  I  think  that  that  is  exactly 
why  an  earnest  endeavor  should  be  made  in  this 
direction  without  any  further  avoidable  delay." 

In  support  of  his  opinion  he  quotes  the  following 
pertinent  observation  of  Mr.  Samuelson: 

"In  conclusion,  I  have  to  state  my  deep  conviction 
that  the  people  of  India  expect  and  demand  of  their 
government  the  design,  organization  and  execution  of 
systematic  technical  education  and  there  is  urgent 
need  for  it  to  bestir  itself,  for  other  nations  have  already 
sixty  years'  start  of  us,  and  have  produced  several 
generations  of  educated  workmen.  Even  if  we  begin 
to-morrow  the  technical  education  of  all  the  youths 
of  twelve  years  of  age,  who  have  received  sound  ele- 
mentary education,  it  will  take  seven  years  before  these 
young  men  can  commence  the  practical  business  of 
life  and  then  they  will  form  but  an  insignificant  mi- 
nority in  an  uneducated  mass.  It  will  take  fifteen 
years  before  those  children  who  have  not  yet  begun 
to  receive  an  elementary  education  shall  have  passed 
from  the  age  of  7  to  21  and  represent  a  completely 
trained  generation;  and  even  then  they  will  find  less 
than  half  of  their  comrades  educated.  In  the  race  of 
nations,  therefore,  we  shall  find  it  hard  to  overtake  the 
sixty  years  that  we  have  lost.  To-morrow,  then  let 
us  undertake  with  all  our  energy  our  neglected  task; 
the  urgency  is  twofold  —  a  small  proportion  of  our 
youth  has  received  elementary  education,  but  no 
technical  education:    for  that  portion  let  us  at  once 


220  APPENDIX 

organize  technical  schools  in  every  small  town,  tech- 
nical colleges  in  every  large  town  and  a  technical 
university  in  the  metropolis.  The  rest  of  the  rising 
generation  has  received  no  education  at  all,  and  for 
them  let  us  at  once  organize  elementary  education, 
even  if  compulsory." 

To  provide  for  a  new  department  of  experts  on  a 
lavish  scale  before  making  an  adequate  provision  for 
general  education  is  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse. 
This  has  been  pointed  out  in  a  very  able  article  by 
one  of  our  premier  scientists  (who  has  taken  a  leading 
part  in  the  development  of  Indian  industries)  pub- 
lished in  the  Modem  Review,  Calcutta,  for  March, 
ioio. 

Says  Sir  P.  C.  Roy: 

"We  always  begin  at  the  wrong  end.  I  should  be 
the  last  person  to  disparage  the  necessity  for  scientific 
research.  The  simple  fact  is,  however,  overlooked 
that  our  agricultural  population,  steeped  in  ignorance 
and  illiteracy  and  owning  only  small  plots  and  scat- 
tered holdings,  are  not  in  a  position  to  take  advantage 
of  or  utilize  the  elaborate  scientific  researches  which 
lie  entombed  in  the  bulletins  and  transactions  of  these 
Institutes.  Mr.  Mackenna  very  rightly  observes: 
The  Famine  Commissioners,  so  long  ago  as  1880, 
expressed  the  view  that  no  general  advance  in  the 
agricultural  system  can  be  expected  until  the  rural 
population  had  been  so  educated  as  to  enable  them  to 
take  a  practical  interest  in  agricultural  progress  and 
reform.  These  views  were  confirmed  by  the  Agri- 
cultural Conference  of  1888.  The  most  important  and 
probably  the  soundest  proposition  laid  down  by  the 
Conference  was  that  it  was  most  desirable  to  extend 
primary  education  amongst  agricultural  classes.  Such 
small  countries  as  Denmark,  Holland  and  Belgium 
are  in  a  position  to  send  immense  supplies  of  cheese, 
butter,  eggs,  etc.,  to  England,  because  the  farmers 
there  are  highly  advanced  in  general  enlightenment 
and  technical  education  and  are  thus  in  a  position 
to  profit  by  the  researches  of  experts.     The  peasant 


APPENDIX  221 

proprietors  of  France  are  equally  fortunate  in  this 
respect;  over  and  above  the  abundant  harvest  of 
cereals  they  grow  vine  and  oranges  and  have  been 
highly  successful  in  sericulture;  while  the  silk  industry, 
in  its  very  cradle,  so  to  speak,  namely  Murshidabad 
and  Malda,  is  languishing  and  is  in  a  moribund  con- 
dition. 

"Various  forms  of  cattle  plague,  e.g.,  render  pest, 
foot  and  mouth  disease,  make  havoc  of  our  cattle  every 
year  and  the  ignorant  masses  steeped  in  superstitions, 
look  helplessly  on  and  ascribe  the  visitations  to  the 
wrath  of  the  Goddess  Sitala.  It  is  useless  to  din 
Pasteur's  researches  into  their  ears.  As  I  have  said 
before,  our  Government  has  the  happy  knack  of  be- 
ginning at  the  wrong  end.  An  ignorant  people  and 
a  costly  machinery  of  scientific  experts  ill  go  together. 

"The  panacea  recommended  for  the  cure  and  treat- 
ment of  all  these  ills  is  the  foundation  or  re-organization 
of  costly  bureaus  and  Scientific  and  Technical  services, 
the  latter  with  the  differentiation  of  " Imperial' '  and 
the  'Provincial'  Services,  which  are  in  reality  hot- 
beds for  the  breeding  of  racial  antipathies  and  sedition. 
For  the  recruitment  of  the  Scientific  Services  the  Com- 
missioners coolly  propose  that  not  only  senior  and 
experienced  men  should  be  obtained  at  as  early  an  age 
as  possible,  preferably  not  exceeding  25  years.  What 
lamentable  ignorance  the  Commissioners  betray  and 
what  poor  conception  they  have  of  this  vital  question 
is  further  evident  from  what  they  say: 

"'We  should  thus  secure  the  University  graduate, 
who  had  done  one  or  perhaps  two  years'  post-graduate 
work  whether  scientific  or  practical,  but  would  not 
yet  be  confirmed  in  specialization.  We  assume  that 
the  requisite  degree  of  specialization  will  be  secured 
by  adopting  a  system  whereby  study  leave  will  be 
granted  at  some  suitable  time  after  three  years,  service, 
when  a  scientific  officer  should  have  developed  the 
distinct  bent."  In  other  words,  secure  a  dark  horse 
and  wait  till  he  develops  a  distinct  bent!    The  writer 


222  APPENDIX 

of  this  article  naturally  feels  a  little  at  home  on  this 
subject  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  cite  a  few  instances 
to  illustrate  how,  under  the  proposed  scheme  Indians 
will  fare.  At  the  present  moment  there  are  four 
young  Indian  Doctors  of  Science  of  British  universities, 
three  belonging  to  that  of  London.  Two  of  them  only 
have  been  able  to  secure  Government  appointments, 
but  these  only  temporary,  drawing  two-thirds  of  the 
grade  pay.  One  has  already  given  up  his  post  in 
disgust  because  he  could  get  no  assurance  that  the 
post  would  be  made  permanent.  In  fact,  both  of 
them  have  been  given  distinctly  to  understand  that 
as  soon  as  the  war  conditions  are  over,  permanent 
incumbents  for  these  posts  will  be  recruited  at  "home." 
In  filling  up  the  posts  of  the  so-called  experts  one  very 
important  factor  is  overlooked.  As  a  rule,  only 
third  rate  men  care  to  come  out  to  India.  The  choice 
lies  between  the  best  brains  of  India  and  the  mediocres 
of  England  and  yet  the  former  get  but  scant  consider- 
ation and  justice.  .  .  .  The  creation  of  so  many 
Scientific  " Imperial"  services  means  practically  so 
many  close  preserves  for  Europeans.' " 

In  the  chapter  dealing  with  Industrial  and  Tech- 
nical training  the  Commission  observes: 

"The  system  of  education  introduced  by  the  Gov- 
ernment was,  at  the  outset,  mainly  intended  to  provide 
for  the  administrative  needs  of  the  country  and  en- 
couraged literary  and  philosophic  studies  to  the  neg- 
lect of  those  of  more  practical  character.  In  the 
result  it  created  a  disproportionate  number  of  persons 
possessing  purely  literary  education,  at  a  time  when, 
there  was  hardly  any  form  of  practical  education  in 
existence.  Naturally,  the  market  value  of  the  services 
of  persons  so  educated  began  eventually  to  diminish. 
Throughout  the  nineteenth  century  the  policy  of  the 
Government  was  controlled  by  the  doctrine  of  laissez- 
faire  in  commercial  and  industrial  matters,  and  its 
efforts  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  country  were 
largely  limited  to  the  provision  of  improved  methods 


APPENDIX  223 

of  transport  and  the  construction  of  irrigation  works. 
Except  in  Bombay,  the  introduction  of  modern  methods 
of  manufacture  was  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 
European  community.  The  opportunities  for  gaining 
experience  were  not  easy  for  Indians  to  come  by,  and 
there  was  no  attempt  at  technical  training  for  indus- 
tries until  nearly  the  end  of  the  century,  and  then 
only  on  an  inadequate  scale.  The  non-existence  of 
a  suitable  education  to  qualify  Indians  for  posts  re- 
quiring industrial  or  technical  knowledge  was  met  by 
the  importation  of  men  from  Europe,  who  supervised 
and  trained  illiterate  Indian  labor  in  the  mills  and 
factories  that  were  started.  From  this  class  of  labor 
it  was  impossible  to  obtain  the  higher  type  of  artisan 
capable  of  supervisory  work." 

After  pointing  out  the  lamentable  deficiency  and 
comparative  failure  of  the  half-hearted  measures  so 
far  taken  by  the  Government  to  provide  some  kind  of 
technical  education  the  Commission  makes  certain 
recommendations  for  meeting  the  needs  of  the  situ- 
ation, which  are  supplemented  by  some  pertinent 
suggestions  made  by  the  Honorable  Malaviya  in  his 
minority  report.  The  aforesaid  summary  concludes 
with  the  following  paragraph: 

"To  sum  up,  the  Commission  finds  that  India  is 
a  country  rich  in  raw  materials  and  in  industrial 
possibilities,  but  poor  in  manufacturing  accomplish- 
ments. The  deficiencies  in  her  industrial  system  are 
such  as  to  render  her  liable  to  foreign  penetration  in 
time  of  peace  and  to  serious  danger  in  time  of  war. 
Her  labor  is  inefficient,  but  for  this  reason  capable  of 
vast  improvement.  She  relies  almost  entirely  on 
foreign  sources  for  foremen  and  supervisors;  and  her 
intelligentsia  have  yet  to  develop  the  right  tradition 
of  industrialism.  Her  stores  of  money  lie  inert  and 
idle.3  The  necessity  of  securing  the  economic  safety 
of  the  country  and  the  inability  of  the  people  to  secure 
it  without  the  co-operation  and  stimulation  of  Govern- 
3  Are  there  any  such  stores?    If  so,  where? 


224  APPENDIX 

ment  impose,  therefore,  on  Government  policy  of 
energetic  intervention  in  industrial  affairs;  and  to 
discharge  the  multifarious  activities  which  this  policy 
demands,  Government  must  be  provided  with  a  suit- 
able industrial  equipment  in  the  form  of  imperial  and 
provincial  departments  of  Industries.' ' 


APPENDIX  B 


A  BRIEF  COMPARATIVE  STATEMENT  OF  THE 
PRESENT  INDIAN  CONSTITUTION,  THE  MON- 
TAGU-CHELMSFORD  SCHEME  OF  REFORMS 
AND  THE  CONGRESS -LEAGUE  REFORM 
PROPOSALS. 


THE    PRESENT    CONSTITU- 
TION   OF    INDIA 

Under   the   Government    of  India 
Act,  1915  (5  &  6  Geo.  5,  c.  61). 

I.  The    Secretary    of    State 

in  Council 

(1)  His  Majesty's  Secretary  of 
State  for  India  superintends, 
directs,  and  controls  all  acts  re- 
lating to  the  government  or 
revenues  of  India.  He  is  respon- 
sible to  Parliament.  He  or  his 
Council  has  no  legislative  powers. 

(2)  The  Council  of  India  consists 
of  10  to  14  members,  appointed 
by  the  Secretary  of  State  for  a 
term  of  seven  years;  and  the 
majority  of  Council  must  sanction 
expenditure  of  revenue  and  cer- 
tain other  specified  matters.  In 
practice  two  of  the  members  have 
been  Indians  since  1907. 

(3)  The  salaries  of  the  Secretary 
of  State,  the  Under-Secretaries 
and  the  Office  establishment  are 
paid  out  of  Indian  revenues. 

II.  The  Government  of  India 

(1)  General.  —  The  Governor- 
General  of  India  is  appointed  by 


the  Crown.  He  has  the  absolute 
power  of  adopting,  suspending  or 
rejecting  measures  affecting  safety, 
tranquillity  and  interest  of  India. 

(2)  Executive  Council.  —  The  Ex- 
ecutive Council  consists  of  five  or 
six  ordinary  members  appointed 
by  the  Crown  generally  for  five 
years,  with  the  Commander-in- 
chief  as  an  extraordinary  member. 
Governor-General  in  Council  is 
the  supreme  autocratic  authority 
in  India  in  all  administrative 
matters,  and  it  directly  adminis- 
ters certain  Imperial  Departments. 
One  member  of  Council  is  now  an 
Indian. 

(3)  Legislative  Council.  —  For 
the  purpose  of  legislation  the 
Council  consists  of  all  Execu- 
tive members  with  60  additional 
members,  of  whom  only  27  are 
elected  by  specified  electorates 
by  a  method  of  indirect  election. 
There  is  separate  representation 
for  Mohammedans.  The  Gov- 
ernor-General is  the  President  of 
the  Council. 

The  members  of  the  Legis- 
lative Council  can  discuss  the 
Budget,  move  resolutions  or  ask 
questions,  but  the  Executive  Gov- 


225 


226 


APPENDIX 


eminent  is  not  bound  thereby. 
In  other  words  the  Legislative 
has  no  control  over  the  purse  or 
the  acts  of  the  Executive. 

Every  act  of  the  Legislative 
requires  the  assent  of  the 
Governor-General,  and  the  Crown 
may  also  disallow  the  same. 
Besides  in  cases  of  emergency 
the  Governor-General  has  the 
power  to  promulgate  laws  in  the 
shape  of  ordinances,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  Legislative  Council, 
on  his  own  initiative  or  on  the 
recommendation  of  Provincial 
Governments.  These  ordinances 
to  be  in  force  for  six  months. 

MONTAGTJ-CHELMSFORD 
SCHEME  OF  REFORMS 

I.  The   Secretary  of   State 

in  Council 

(i)  His  Majesty's  Secretary  of 
State  to  be  retained,  but  his 
salary  to  be  transferred  to  British 
Estimates. 

(2  &  3)  A  Committee  is  appointed 
to  examine  and  report  on  the 
present  constitution  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  India  as  well  as  the  Office 
establishment.  (The  report  of 
the  Committee  is  not  yet  made.) 

(4)  The  House  of  Commons  to 
be  asked  to  appoint  a  Select 
Committee  for  Indian  affairs. 

(5)  Control  of  Parliament  and  the 
Secretary  of  State  to  be  modified. 

II.  The  Government  of  India 

(1)  General.  —  The  Government 
of  India  to  preserve  indisputable 
authority  on  all  matters  relating 
to  peace,  order,  and  good  Govern- 
ment. It  is  to  remain  fully 
autocratic  as  at  present. 


A  Privy  Council  to  be  estab- 
lished in  India. 

(2)  The  Executive  Council.  —  To 
continue  as  before  with  maximum 
limit  removed,  but  the  Indian 
element  is  to  be  increased  to  two 
members. 

Government  to  be  empowered 
to  appoint  a  limited  number  of 
members  (not  necessarily  elected) 
of  the  Legislative  Council  as 
Under-Secretaries,  similar  to  Par- 
liamentary Under-Secretaries  in 
England. 

(3)  Legislative  Council.  —  There 
will  be  two  legislative  Bodies. 
One  to  be  called  Legislative  As- 
sembly (with  elected  majority), 
and  the  other  the  Council  of 
State  (with  official  majority). 

The  Legislative  Assembly  is  to 
consist  of  100  members,  two-thirds 
of  whom  would  be  elected.  Of  the 
nominated  not  less  than  one- 
third  should  be  non-officials.  J 
President  to  be  nominated  by 
the  Governor-General. 

The  Council  of  State  to  consist 
of  50  members,  of  whom  21  are 
to  be  elected.  The  Governor- 
General  is  to  be  the  President. 

Bills  passed  by  the  Assembly 
must  also  be  referred  to  the 
Council  of  State,  the  differences, 
if  any,  being  settled  by  a  joint 
session.  But  in  cases  where  the 
interests  of  peace,  order  and  good  } 
Government,  including  sound  fi- 
nancial administration,  are  con- 
cerned, Governor-General  shall 
have  powers  to  refer  a  Bill  to  the 
Council  of  State  and  it  wilt  become 
law  in  the  form  approved  by  the 
Council  of  State  even  though  it 
is  not  acceptable  to  the  Assembly. 

Legislative  Assembly  and  the 
Council  of  State  may  discuss  the 
Budget,  ask  questions,  and  pass 


APPENDIX 


227 


resolutions,  but  they  are  not 
binding  on  the  Executive. 

The  Governor-General  to  retain 
his  power  of  assenting  to  Acts  and 
promulgating  ordinances  on  his 
own  authority.  The  Crown  may 
disallow  any  Act. 

The  Montagu  -  Chelmsford 
Scheme  proposes  periodical  (de- 
cennial) Parliamentary  inquiries 
to  revise  the  constitution,  both 
for  the  Central  and  the  Provincial 
Governments. 


CONGRESS— LEAGUE  RE- 
FORM   PROPOSALS 

I.  The  Secretary  of  State  in 

Council 

(1)  The  Secretary  of  State  to  be 
retained.  But  his  salary  to  be 
transferred  to  British  Estimates. 

(2)  The  Council  of  India  be 
abolished. 

(3)  There  should  be  two  per- 
manent Under-Secretaries,  one  of 
whom  should  be  an  Indian.  The 
charges  of  the  Indian  Office  estab- 
lishment should  be  transferred  to 
British  Estimates. 

(4)  The  proposed  Select  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons 
is  not  objected  to. 

(5)  The  Secretary  of  State  for 
India  should  eventually  occupy 
the  same  position  as  the  Colonial 
Secretary.  The  control  of  Parlia- 
ment and  Secretary  of  State  be 
modified  only  with  the  transfer 
of  responsibility  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  to  the  electorate. 

II.  The  Government  of  India 

(1)  General.  —  The  Government 
of    India    shall    have    undivided 


authority  in  matters  concerning 

Peace,   Tranquillity  and  Defence 

.of  the  Country;    but  subject  to  a 

§  Statutory  Declaration  of  the  rights 

'of  the  people  of  India  as  British 

citizens,    viz.,    that    all    Indians 

are    equal    before    law,    equally 

entitled  to  a  licence  to  bear  arms 

and  to  have  the  freedom  of  speech, 

writing,    and   meeting,   and   also 

the  freedom  of  the  Press,  and  that 

no  one  be  punished  or  deprived 

of  his  liberty  except  by  a  sentence 

of  a  Court  of  Justice. 

That  the  principle  of  Respon- 
sible Government  should  be  ap- 
plied to  the  Central  Adminis- 
tration by  dividing  the  subjects 
into  (1)  reserved  (2)  transferred. 
The  reserved  subjects  to  be  ad- 
ministered by  Government  with- 
out popular  control.  The  reserved 
subjects  shall  be  Foreign  affairs 
(except  relations  with  Colonies, 
and  Dominions),  AngVj  Navy, 
and  relations  with  Indian  Ruling 
Princes,  as  well  as  matters  af- 
fecting public  peace,  tranquillity, 
defence  of  the  country  subject  to 
the  Declarations  of  Rights  men- 
tioned above.  All  other  subjects 
should  be  transferred  subjects  — 
i.e.,  transferred  to  the  popular 
control  exercised  by  the  enlarged 
Legislative  Assembly. 

There  should  be  no  Privy 
Council. 

(2)  Executive  Council.  —  The  Ex- 
ecutive Council  shall  consist  partly 
of  Ministers,  from  the  Elected 
members  of  the  Legislative  Coun- 
cil, and  in  charge  of  the  trans- 
ferred subjects;  and  other  mem- 
bers nominated  by  the  Govern- 
ment in  charge  of  the  reserved 
subjects.  When  there  are  two  or 
more  members  in  charge  of  the 
reserved  subjects,  half  the  num- 
ber shall  be  Indians. 


228 


APPENDIX 


3)  Legislative  Council.  —  There 
should  be  no  Council  of  State, 
but  only  one  Legislative  Assembly 
composed  of  150  members,  four- 
fifths  of  whom  should  be  elected 
directly  by  the  people.  The 
Franchise  should  be  as  broad  as 
I  possible  without  distinction  of 
I  sex,  but  with  a  proportional  and 
communal  representation  for  Mo- 
hammedans as  settled  at  Lucknow. 
The  Assembly  should  have  an 
elected  President.  (The  Moslem 
League  does  not  object  to  the 
Council  of  State  if  at  least  half 
the  members  thereof  would  be 
elected). 

The  Legislative  Assembly  should 
have  the  same  measure  of  fiscal 
autonomy  as  Self-Governing  Do- 
minions, and  should  control  the 
Budget,  excepting  the  reserved 
subjects,  the  allotment  for  which 
shall  be  a  first  charge  on  the 
Revenues.  All  Bills  must  be 
introduced  and  passed  in  the 
Assembly. 

Provided  that  in  the  case  of 
reserved  subjects  if  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly  does  not  pass 
measures  desired  by  Government, 
the  Governor-General  in  Council 
.  may  provide  for  the  same  by 
regulations.  Such  regulations  will 
remain  in  force  for  one  year,  and 
shall  not  be  renewed  unless  40 
per  cent  (two-fifths  of  the  mem- 
bers) of  the  Legislative  Assembly 
present  and  voting  are  in  favour 
of  them. 

The  Governor-General  to  retain 
his  existing  power  of  making 
ordinances  and  the  Governor- 
General  in  Council  the  power 
of  passing  regulations.  The  Gov- 
ernor-General and  the  Crown  to 
have  also  power  of  assent,  reser- 
vation or  disallowance. 

The  Congress  —  League  scheme 


•  objects  to  periodical  Commissions 
for  revising  the  Constitution,  and 
asks  for  a  Statutory  declaration 
that  the  transfer  of  responsibility 
should  be  completed  in  a  period 
not  exceeding  15  years,  when 
India  should  be  placed  on  a 
footing  of  equality  with  the  other 
self-governing  parts  of  the  Empire. 

III.    The    Provincial    Govern- 
ments 

(1)  General.  —  India,  including 
Burma,  is  divided  into  14  prov- 
inces, each  of  which  has  its  own 
Provincial  Government. 

By  a  system  of  decentralisation, 
revenues  are  allotted  to  all  these 
provinces  by  the  Government  of 
India.  The  Provincial  Govern- 
ments administer,  under  the  gen- 
eral supervision  of  the  Central 
Government,  without  being  re- 
sponsible to  the  Local  Legislatures 
in  any  way. 

(2)  Executive.  —  Bombay,  Bengal, 
and  Madras  have  each  a  Governor 
sent  from  England  and  three 
(one  of  whom  is,  in  practice,  an 
Indian)  Executive  Councillors  ap- 
pointed by  the  Crown,  with  a 
Legislative  Council. 

Bihar  and  Orissa  governed  by 
a  Lieutenant-Governor  with  Legis- 
lative and  Executive  Councils; 
United  Provinces,  Punjab  and 
Burma  by  a  Lieutenant-Governor 
with  only  a  Legislative  Council; 
Central  Provinces  and  Assam  by  a 
Chief  Commissioner  with  only  a 
Legislative  Council,  and,  the  re- 
maining by  Chief  Commissioners 
without  any  Councils. 

(3)  Legislative.  —  The  Provincial 
Legislative  Councils  enjoy  limited 
powers  for  legislation  in  the  prov- 
inces. The  Governor  is  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Council. 


APPENDIX 


229 


The  elected  members  of  the 
Legislative  Council  are  elected  by 
constituencies  formed  of  Municipal 
and  Local  Boards,  and  Landlords 
with  a  separate  constituency  for 
Mohammedans.  They  are  in  a 
minority  except  in  Bengal,  where 
they  have  at  present  only  a  small 
majority.  The  Legislative  Coun- 
cils have  no  control  over  the 
Executive  or  the  Budget. 

The  Acts  of  the  Provincial 
Legislature  must  be  assented  to 
first  by  the  Governor,  Lieutenant 
Governor,  or  the  Commissioner 
as  the  case  may  be,  and  then  by 
the  Governor-General  subject  al- 
ways to  disallowance  by  the 
Crown. 

Public  Services 

Recruitment,  examination,  and 
other  matters  relating  to  Indian 
services  are  at  present  under  the 
control  of  the  Indian  Govern- 
ment and  the  Secretary  of  State, 
with  no  statutory  limit  for  re- 
cruitment in  India. 

Local  Self-Government 

Half  the  members  of  Municipali- 
ties and  Local  Boards  are  gener- 
ally elected,  but  the  bodies  are 
under  official  control. 

III.    The    Provincial    Govern- 
ments 

(1)  General.  —  All  Provinces  hav- 
ing Legislative  Councils  at  present 
(except  Burma)  should  have  a 
Governor  with  Executive  and 
Legislative  Councils.  A  complete 
separation  will  be  made  between 
Indian  and  Provincial  Revenues. 
Provincial  Governments  are  to 
have  certain  powers  of  taxation 
and  borrowing. 

Responsible  Government  is  to 


be  introduced  in  the  Provinces  by 
a  division  of  departments  into 
reserved  (for  Government)  and 
transferred  (to  popular  control) 
subject  to  a  revision  after  five 
years.  (A  Committee  is  appointed 
to  settle  which  subjects  should 
be  transferred.  The  report  is 
not  yet  out.) 

(2)  The  Executive  would  be  a  kind 
of  Diarchy,  consisting  of  the 
Governor  and  two  members  (one 
of  whom  is  to  be  an  Indian) 
who  will  be  in  charge  of  the 
reserved  subjects,  and  respon- 
sible only  to  Government;  and 
a  Minister  or  Ministers,  nomi- 
nated by  the  Governor  from  the 
elected  members  of  the  Council, 
who  will  be  in  charge  of  the 
transferred  subjects  and  respon- 
sible not  to  the  Legislature,  but 
to  the  electors  who  may  not  elect 
him  next  time!  There  may  also 
be  additional  members  without 
Portfolios  for  the  purpose  of 
consultation. 

Ministers  to  have  no  voice 
in  decisions  concerning  reserved 
subjects  or  about  the  supply 
for  them  in  the  Budget. 

There  will  be  Under-Secretaries 
and  Standing  Committees  from 
the  members  of  the  Legislative 
Councils  to  assist  the  Executive. 

(3)  Legislative  Councils.  —  These 
would  be  practically  two  Provin- 
cial Legislative  Bodies:  (1)  Leg- 
islative Council.  (2)  Grand 
Committee. 

The  Legislative  Council  will 
have  a  substantial  elected 
majority,  elected  on  a  broad 
franchise  with  Governor  as  Presi- 
dent. (A  Commission  is  ap- 
pointed to  inquire  into  the  question 
of  franchise  and  the  composition 
of  the  Council,  but  the  report  is 
not  yet  out.) 


230 


APPENDIX 


The  Grand  Committee  will 
comprise  only  from  40  to  50  per 
cent  of  Legislative  Council,  and 
its  members  will  be  partly  elected 
by  a  ballot  and  partly  appointed 
by  nomination. 

All  Legislation  and  the  Budget 
for  transferred  subjects  only  must 
be  passed  in  the  Legislative 
Councils. 

But  when  the  Governor  certifies 
that  a  bill  dealing  with  reserved 
subjects  is  essential  he  may  refer 
the  Bill  to  the  Grand  Committee 
and  have  it  finally  passed  there. 

The  members  of  the  Legislative 
Council  can  ask  questions  and 
pass  resolutions,  but  the  latter 
are  not  binding  on  the  Executive, 
except  resolutions  on  the  Budget 
for  the  transferred  subjects. 

All  Provincial  Legislation  re- 
quires the  assent  of  the  Governor 
and  the  Governor-General,  and  is 
also  subject  to  disallowance  by  His 
Majesty. 

Public  Service 

Racial  bars  should  not  exist. 
In  addition  to  recruitment  in 
England  a  system  of  appoint- 
ment to  all  public  services  be 
established  in  India  with  an  in- 
creasing percentage  of  recruit- 
ment. In  the  case  of  Indian 
Civil  Service  the  percentage  should 
be  2>Z  °f  the  superior  posts,  with 
annual  increment  of  i|  per  cent. 

Local  Self-Government 

Complete  popular  control  in 
Local  Bodies  to  be  established  as 
far  as  possible. 

III.   The   Provincial   Govern- 
ments 

(1)  General.  —  There  should  be  a 
complete  separation  of  the  Provin- 


cial from  the  Imperial  Revenues. 
All  Provincial  Governments  should 
have  certain  powers  of  taxation 
and  borrowing. 

(2)  Executive.  —  Full  responsible 
Government  should  be  introduced 
into  the  Provinces.  The  Execu- 
tive will  thus  consist  of  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Ministers  responsible 
to  the  Legislature.  There  should 
be  no  distinction  of  transferred  or 
reserved  subjects. 

(3)  Legislative.  —  There  should  be 
only  one  Legislative  Council, 
having  four-fifths  of  its  members 
elected  on  a  broad  franchise  with- 
out distinction  of  sex,  but  with 
a  proportional  and  communal 
representation  for  the  Mohamme- 
dans. The  Legislative  Council 
should  elect  its  own  President, 
and  must  have  control  over  the 
Budget.  All  Bills  must  be  intro- 
duced and  passed  in  this  Legis- 
lative Council. 

The  Governor  to  retain  his 
power  of  assent,  and  the  Governor- 
General  and  the  Crown  the 
power  of  assent  or  disallowance. 

Public  Services 

Services  should  be  recruited  in 
India  in  a  fixed  and  progressive 
proportion.  The  annual  recruit- 
ment in  India  for  the  Indian 
Civil  Service  should  be  50  per 
cent  to  start  with,  and  that 
Indians  be  granted  at  least  25 
per  cent  of  the  Commissions  in 
Army  and  the  proportion  be 
gradually  increased.  There  should 
be  no  racial  distinctions. 

Local  Self-Government 

Municipal  and  Local  Bodies 
should  be  completely  under  popu- 
lar control. 


APPENDIX   C 

REPORTS  OF  COMMITTEES  ON  FRANCHISES 
AND   DIVISION  OF   FUNCTIONS 

{London  Times  May  13,  1919) 

The  reports  of  the  two  Committees  which  sat  in 
India  from  early  in  November  to  the  end  of  February 
last  to  fill  out  the  framework  of  the  Montagu-Chelms- 
ford  Report  published  last  July  were  issued  last  night. 

The  Franchise  Committee,  of  which  Lord  South- 
borough  was  chairman,  recommend  a  scheme  of 
territorial  constituencies,  urban  and  rural,  the  latter 
based  on  the  existing  land  revenue  districts,  together 
with  communal  representation  for  Mohammedans  and 
Sikhs  (as  contemplated  in  the  original  scheme)  and 
for  Indian  Christians,  Europeans,  and  Anglo-Indians: 
and  the  representation  of  special  interests,  including 
commerce  and  industry. 

TfieTother  Committee,  of  which  Mr.  R.  Feetham 
was  chairman,  make  detailed  recommendations  as  to 
the  division  of  functions  between  the  Government  of 
India  and  the  provincial  Governments,  and  also 
between  "reserved"  and  "transferred"  subjects  in 
the  provinces.  Proposals  are  made  for  the  modi- 
fication in  some  important  respects  (notably  in  the 
powers  conferred  on  the  Governor)  of  the  "diarchial" 
system  in  the  provinces  set  forth  in  what  is  conveniently 

called  the  "Joint  Report." 

■ 

As  was  indicated  in  The  Times  on  April  5,  Lord  Southborough's 
Committee  have  not  accepted  the  appeals  addressed  to  them  in  the 
interest  of  woman  suffrage.  They  found  it  advocated  "rather 
on  general  grounds  than  on  considerations  of  practicability."  They 
are  satisfied  that  the  social  conditions  of  India  would  make  such 

231 


232  APPENDIX 

a  step  now  premature.  They  are  of  opinion,  however,  that  at  the 
revision  of  the  constitutions  of  the  councils  proposed  in  the  Joint 
Report  10  years  after  their  reconstitution  the  matter  should  be 
reconsidered  in  the  light  of  the  experience  gained  and  of  social  con- 
ditions as  they  then  exist. 

Franchise  Qualifications 

The  general  proposals  for  the  franchise  are  based  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  residence  and  the  possession  of  certain  property  qualifications. 
In  addition  the  enfranchisement  of  all  retired  and  pensioned  officers 
,>  of  the  Indian  Army,  whether  of  commissioned  or  non-commissioned 
j  rank,  is  recommended.    This  step  was  universally  and  strongly 
recommended  in  the  Punjab,  and  it  is  to  extend  to  all  provinces. 
The  property  qualification  is  adapted  to  local  conditions  and  is 
guided  by  the  principle  that  the  franchise  should  be  as  broad  as 
possible,  consistently  with  the  avoidance  of  any  such  inordinate 
I   extension  as  might  lead  to  a  breakdown  of  the  machinery  of  election 
,  through   weight  of   numbers.    The  large  proportion   of  illiterate 
voters,  in  the  absence  of  a  literary  test,  may  cause  difficulty,  but  it 
has  already  been  faced  successfully  in  municipal  elections  in  India 
by  the  use  of  coloured  ballot-boxes  and  other  like  devices. 

No  rigid  uniformity  of  property  qualification  has  been  sought, 
but  the  committee  have  proposed  the  same  qualification  for  all 
communities  within  the  same  area.  A  substantially  higher  propor- 
tion of  the  urban  than  of  the  rural  population  will  be  enfranchised. 
At  present  the  total  number  of  electors  for  the  provincial  councils 
is  33,007,  and  of  these  no  fewer  than  17,448  are  Mohammedans,  since 
jthat  community  enjoys  direct  representation  on  an  individual 
fbasis.  The  number  of -voters  will  be  raised  under  the  scheme  to 
5,179,000,  being  2.34  per  cent  of  the  total  population  in  the  eight 
provinces,  which  is  nearly  220,000,000. 

The  long  established  administrative  unit  of  the  "district"  is  made 
the  territorial  area  for  constituencies  but  the  relatively  few  cities 
with  large  populations  are  to  be  separately  represented.  Occa- 
sionally towns  are  grouped  into  separate  urban  constituencies. 
Single-member  constituencies  are  the  general  rule,  but  latitude  is 
left  to  the  local  Governments.  Plural  voting  is  to  be  forbidden, 
I  but  this  does  not  apply  to  electors  in  constituencies  formed  for  the 
r  representation  of  special  interests. 

Special  Communities 

In  conformity  with  the  recognition  of  the  Joint  Report  that 
separate  Mohammedan  representation  cannot  be  abandoned,  the 
scheme  provides  for  Mohammedan  constituencies.  The  compact  of 
the  joint  session  of  the  National  Congress  and  the  Moslem  League 
at  Lucknow  in  December,  1916,  is  accepted  as  a  guide  in  allocating 
the  proportion  of  Mohammedan  seats.  In  the  Punjab  this  facility 
is  to  be  extended  to  the  Sikhs.    Beyond  this  the  framers  of  the 


APPENDIX  233 

Joint  Report  did  not  propose  to  go;  but  Lord  Southborough's 
Committee  recommend  separate  electorates,  where  the  numbers 
justify  that  course,  for  Indian  Christians,  Europeans,  and  the 
domiciled  "Anglo-Indians"  —  i.e.,  country-born  Europeans  and 
Eurasians.  It  is  observed  that  candidates  belonging  to  these 
communities  would  have  no  chance  of  being  elected  by  general 
constituencies.  The  hope  is  expressed  that  it  will  be  possible  "at 
no  very  distant  date  to  merge  all  communities  into  one  general 
electorate." 

Other  claims  for  separate  electorates  are  not  conceded.  Regret 
is  expressed  that  the  organized  non-Brahmans  of  the  Madras  Presi- 
dency refuse  to  appear  before  the  Committee.  It  is  pointed  out  that 
there  the  non-Brahmans  (omitting  the  depressed  or  "untouchable" 
classes)  outnumber  the  Brahmans  by  about  22  to  one;  and  on  the 
basis  of  enfranchisement  taken  in  Madras  the  non-Brahmans  would 
be  in  the  proportion  of  four  to  one.  It  is  held  to  be  unreasonable 
to  adopt  the  proposed  expedient  for  a  community  which  has  an 
overwhelming  electoral  strength. 

The  alternative  of  reserving  a  considerable  number  of  seats  for 
non-Brahmans  in  plural  member  constituencies  did  not  commend 
itself  to  a  section  of  the  non-Brahmans,  though  evidence  went  to 
show  that  such  a  proposal  might  be  accepted  by  the  Brahmans 
"if  it  were  the  price  of  an  enduring  peace."  It  is  suggested  that  his 
Majesty's  Government  might  afford  the  parties  to  the  controversy 
an  opportunity,  before  the  electoral  machinery  for  the  Presidency 
is  completed,  of  agreeing  upon  some  solution  —  e.g.,  the  provision 
of  plural  member  constituencies  and  of  a  certain  proportion  of 
guaranteed  non-Brahman  seats. 
I  The  separate  representation  of  zamindars  and  landholders  granted 
I  under  the  Morley-Minto  scheme  is  extended  and  provision  made  for 
university  seats.  The  election  by  accredited  bodies  of  representatives 
of  commerce  and  industry  is  also  continued  and  amplified.  There  is 
to  be  nomination  for  the  representation  of  the  "depressed  classes," 
for  in  no  case  was  it  found  possible  to  provide  an  electorate  on  any 
satisfactory  system  of  franchise.  Labour  is  to  be  represented  by 
nomination  where  the  industrial  conditions  seem  likely  to  give  rise 
to  labour  problems.  The  majority  of  the  Committee  are  of  opinion 
'that  dismissal  from  Government  service  should  constitute  a  bar  to 
candidature  if  it  has  taken  place  in  circumstances  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Governor  in  Council,  involve  moral  turpitude;  but 
Lord  Southborough,  Mr.  S.  N.  Bannerjea,  and  Mr.  Sastri  dissent, 
considering  it  improper  to  limit  the  choice  of  the  electorate  by  a 
disqualification  based  on  the  decision  of  an  executive  authority. 

The  size  of  the  Provincial  Legislatures  will  vary  from  53  in  Assam 
to  125  in  Bengal.  The  eight  Councils  will  comprise  796  members, 
made  up  as  follows:  — 

Elected  by  general  constituencies,  308. 

By  communities,  185. 

By  landholders,  35. 


234  APPENDIX 

By  universities,  8. 

By  commercial,  industrial,  and  planting  interests,  45. 
The  nominated  representatives  will  number  47,  and  the  officials, 
128. 

The  "All-india"  Body 

For  the  Indian  Legislative  Assembly,  the  Committee  propose 
80  elected  members,  instead  of  the  68  suggested  in  the  Joint  Report. 
Fourteen  representatives  appointed  by  nomination  and  26  officials 
(including  seven  ex-officio  members)  will  bring  up  the  total,  exclusive 
of  the  Governor-General,  to  120,  as  compared  with  68  at  present. 
A  statement  of  the  manifold  difficulties  in  the  way  of  direct  election 
for  this  All-India  body  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must  be 
indirect  election  for  all  general  and  communal  seats  by  the  members 
of  the  Provincial  Legislatures.  "We  trust  that,  in  progress  of  time, 
a  growing  sense  of  political  prganization  will  enable  indirect  election 
to  be  superseded  by  some  direct  method." 

A  scheme  for  the  creation  of  the  "Council  of  State"  on  the  lines 
of  the  Joint  Report  is  set  forth,  on  the  basis  of  election  thereto  by 
non-official  members  of  the  Provincial  Councils.  There  would  be 
24  elected  and  32  ex-officio  or  nominated  members,  exclusive  of  the 
Governor-General.  The  electors  should  be  left  free  to  choose  any 
person  qualified  to  be  a  member  of  a  Provincial  Legislature. 


THE  DIVISION  OF  FUNCTIONS 

The  first  duty  of  Mr.  Feetham's  Committee  was  to 
consider  what  were  the  services  to  be  appropriated  to  the 
provinces,  all  others  remaining  with  the  Government  of 
India.  The  Committee  proceeded  on  the  basis  that  there 
is  to  be  no  such  statutory  demarcation  of  powers  as  to 
leave  the  validity  of  Acts  passed  to  be  challenged  in  the 
Courts.  In  other  words,  no  alteration  is  proposed  in 
the  system  under  which  the  All-India  Legislature  as 
regards  British  India,  and  each  of  the  Provincial 
Legislatures  as  regards  its  own  province,  have  in 
theory  concurrent  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  legisla- 
tive field. 

In  framing  the  lists  the  Committee  have  treated  as  All-India 
subjects  certain  large  general  heads,  such,  for  instance,  as  commerce 
and  laws  regarding  property,  but  have  taken  out  of  these  and  allotted 
to  the  provinces  important  sections  —  e.g.,  in  the  case  of  the  first 
Excise,  and  in  the  case  of  the  second  laws  regarding  land  tenure. 
Any  matter  included  in  the  provincial  list  is  to  be  deemed  to  be 


APPENDIX  235 

excluded  from  any  All-India  subject  of  which  otherwise  it  would 
form  part.  Subjects  not  expressly  included  in  either  list  are  re- 
garded as  All-India  subjects,  but  the  Governor-General  in  Council 
may  add  to  the  provincial  list  "matters  of  merely  local  or  private 
interest  within  the  province."  It  is  claimed  that  the  scheme  has 
been  devised  on  such  a  basis  as  to  leave  the  way  open  for  the  process 
of  development. 

The  list  of  subjects  to  be  transferred  to  Indian  Ministers  is  on 
the  whole  more  extensive  than  the  suggested  list  attached  to  the 
Joint  Report.  With  certain  reservations  University  education  is 
to  be  transferred,  as  well  as  primary,  secondary,  and  technical,  on 
the  ground  that  the  educational  system  must  be  regarded  as  an 
organic  whole.  But  European  and  Anglo-Indian  education,  which  j 
is  organized  on  a  separate  basis  is  excluded  from  the  transfer. 

The  decision  of  the  functions  of  the  Provincial  Government, 
popularly  known  as  diarchy,  has  been  criticized  as  likely  to  lead  to 
friction,  and  sometimes  to  deadlock.  To  mitigate  these  difficulties, 
the  Committee  propose  important  changes  in  the  relations  of  the 
Governor  with  both  sections  of  the  Government.  It  is  to  be  the 
duty  of  the  Governor  in  Council  in  the  case  of  reserved  departments, 
and  of  the  Governor  and  Ministers  in  the  case  of  transferred  de- 
partments, to  take  care  that  the  administration  is  so  conducted  as  not 
to  prejudice  or  occasion  undue  interference  with  the  working  of  any 
department  falling  in  the  other  category.  The  Governor  has  to 
decide  whether  a  particular  matter  falls  within  the  scope  of  a  re- 
served or  a  transferred  department,  and  to  take  care  that  any  order 
given  by  the  Governor-General  in  Council  is  complied  with  by  the 
department  concerned. 

Governor's  Increased  Powers 

In  the  case  of  disagreement  between  the  Executive  Council  and 
Ministers  as  to  action  which  appears  to  the  Governor  to  affect  both 
a  reserved  and  a  transferred  department,  the  Governor  is  to  give 
such  decision  as  the  interests  of  good  government  may  seem  to 
require,  provided  that,  in  so  far  as  circumstances  admit,  before  such 
decision  is  given  the  matter  should  be  considered  by  both  sections 
of  the  Government  sitting  together.  If  the  Minister  remains 
obdurate,  it  will  be  for  the  Governor  to  dismiss  and  find  another 
Minister. 

If,  owing  to  a  vacancy,  there  is  no  Minister  in  charge  of  a  trans- 
ferred department,  the  Governor  will  certify  that  such  emergency 
exists  and  that  immediate  action  is  necessary.  On  such  certificate 
being  given,  the  Governor  in  Council  will  have  authority  to  take 
action,  subject  to  the  obligation  of  reporting  to  the  Governor-Genera! 
in  Council.  In  other  words  there  will  be  re-entry  for  a  temporary 
and  limited  purpose  during  an  interregnum.  This  is  a  considerable 
departure  from  the  proposal  of  the  Joint  Report  that  Ministers  shall 
hold  office  for  the  lifetime  of  the  Legislative  Council.  The  power 
of  the  Governor  to  dismiss  a  Minister,  says  the  report,  "seems 


236  APPENDIX 

essential  if  deadlocks  are  to  be  avoided."  The  over-ruling  of  a 
minister  will  depend  in  the  last  resort  on  the  Governor's  personal 
judgment  of  the  situation. 

Finance 

The  Committee  felt  themselves  precluded  from  considering  any 
modification  of  the  proposals  of  the  Joint  Report  for  the  separation 
of  the  finances  of  the  Government  of  India  and  of  Provincial  Govern- 
ments. No  opinion  is  expressed  on  memoranda  received  at  a  late 
stage  from  Sir  James  Meston  making  proposals  for  substantial  de- 
parture from  the  plan  of  dealing  with  provincial  finance  set  forth 
in  the  Joint  Report. 

It  may  be  recalled  that  Mr.  Montagu  and  Lord  Chelmsford  pro- 
posed that,  if  the  residue  of  the  provincial  revenues  is  not  sufficient, 
it  should  be  open  to  Ministers  to  suggest  fresh  taxation.  The 
Committee  take  the  view  that  when  any  new  provincial  tax  or  any 
proposed  addition  to  an  existing  tax  requires  legislation  to  give  effect 
to  it,  the  decision  whether  that  legislation  should  be  undertaken 
must  rest  with  the  Governor  and  Ministers.  Since  the  whole  balance 
of  the  revenues  of  the  province  will  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  Ministers 
for  the  administratis  n  of  the  transferred  departments,  the  Committee 
consider  that  when  an  existing  tax  cannot  be  reduced  or  remitted 
without  legislation,  the  decision  whether  legislation  should  be  under- 
taken must  also  rest  with  the  Governor  and  Ministers.  To  that 
extent  taxation  for  provincial  purposes  should  be  regarded  as  a 
transferred  subject. 

The  assessment  or  collection  of  the  tax  would  be  reserved  or 
transferred,  according  as  the  agency  employed  belonged  to  a  re- 
served or  to  a  transferred  department.  The  view  is  also  taken 
that,  when  alterations  in  taxation  can  be  effected  without  any  change 
in  the  law,  the  decision  whether  any  alteration  should  in  fact  be  made 
must  be  recognized  as  resting  with  the  Governor  in  Council  if  the 
department  is  reserved,  and  with  the  Governor  and  Ministers  if 
it  is  transferred. 

In  respect  to  the  powers  of  borrowing  on  the  sole  credit  of  pro- 
vincial revenues  which  are  to  be  conferred,  the  Committee  propose 
that,  if  after  joint  deliberation  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  be- 
tween the  Executive  Council  and  the  Ministers,  the  final  decision 
whether  a  loan  should  be  raised  and  as  to  the  amount  of  the  loan 
must  rest  with  the  Governor. 

The  Public  Services 

Detailed  proposals  are  made  in  relation  to  the  public  services, 
to  be  classified  as  Indian  (All-India),  provincial  and  subordinate, 
No  service  is  to  be  included  in  the  first  of  these  categories  without 
the  sanction  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  while  the  demarcation  be- 
tween the  provincial  and  subordinate  services  is  to  be  left  to  the 
provincial  Governments. 


APPENDIX  237 

General  approval  is  given  to  a  scheme  prepared  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  providing  that  legislation  should  be  undertaken  in 
Parliament  to  declare  the  tenure  and  provide  for  the  classification 
of  the  public  service.  It  should  secure  the  pensions  of  the  All- 
India  services,  and  should  empower  the  Secretary  of  State  to  make 
rules  for  their  conduct  and  rights  and  liabilities,  and  to  fix  their 
pay  and  regulate  their  allowances.  Similar  legislation  should  be 
passed  by  the  Government  of  India  in  respect  to  the  provincial 
services,  and  to  empower  the  provincial  Governments  to  make  rules 
for  the  subordinate  services.  The  Committee  does  not  express  any 
opinion  on  the  proposal  of  the  Government  of  India  to  set  up  a 
statutory  Public  Service  Commission  on  lines  somewhat  wider  than 
those  of  the  Civil  Commission  in  Great  Britain. 

Among  the  clauses  suggested  for  insertion  in  the  instructions  for 
each  provincial  Governor  is  one  enjoining  him  to  "protect  all  mem- 
bers of  the  public  services  in  the  legitimate  exercise  of  their  functions 
and  enjoyment  of  all  recognized  rights  and  privileges." 

The  instructions  are  to  charge  him  with  the  duty  of  safeguarding 
the  legitimate  interests  of  the  Anglo-Indian  or  domiciled  community, 
and  to  take  care  that  no  change  in  educational  policy,  affecting 
adversely  Government  assistance  afforded  to  existing  institutions 
maintained  or  controlled  by  religious  bodies,  is  adopted  without  due 
consideration."  The  Governor  is  also  to  be  instructed  that  he  "shall 
not  sanction  the  grant  of  monopolies  or  special  privileges  to  private 
undertakings  which  are  inconsistent  with  the  public  interest,  nor 
shall  he  permit  any  unfair  discrimination  in  matters  affecting  com- 
mercial or  industrial  interests." 


i 


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